Career Counterfeiter Facing 20 Years in Prison for Possessing Phony $100 Bills

MACON, Ga. – A Tampa, Florida, resident with multiple prior convictions related to trafficking in forged U.S. currency is facing up to twenty years in prison for possessing counterfeit $100 bills, said Charlie Peeler, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. Tranorris Lamar Jackson, 27, of Tampa, entered a guilty plea to one count possession of counterfeit Federal Reserve notes during a video teleconference hearing before U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell on Wednesday, April 29, 2020. Jackson is facing a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release for his crime. Jackson will be sentenced in the Middle District of Georgia at 9:30 a.m. on August 5. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Counterfeiting is a serious federal offense that can result in serious prison time here in the Middle District of Georgia,” said U.S. Attorney Charlie Peeler. “I want to thank the Perry Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service for their work in this investigation, and helping stop a career counterfeiter from continuing his brazen criminal activities.”

Perry Police officers first discovered counterfeit U.S. currency during a traffic stop on April 25, 2018. The following day, officers conducted a legal search of a Howard Johnson Motel Room in Perry, Georgia, where Jackson was staying. During the search, officers located a small amount of suspected marijuana, three pairs of scissors and more counterfeit $100 bills. All of the bills were printed on normal printer paper and had been hidden under the mattress of one of the beds in the room. A large portion of the bills were uncut, though some of them had already been cut out. Jackson, who was serving a federal probation sentence for counterfeiting, was taken into custody and transported to the Houston County jail. The transporting officer discovered shredded pieces of a counterfeit $100 bill in the backseat of the vehicle. The officer observed more pieces of counterfeit $100 bills being dropped behind Jackson as he walked from the patrol vehicle to the jail. Once in the jail, the officers searched Jackson and found more pieces of counterfeit $100 bills inside of his pants legs. The bills had been printed on regular printer paper and contained two of the same serial numbers that were on the bills found in motel room. In all, the Perry Police Department recovered more than $30,000 in counterfeit bills.  

Jackson has multiple convictions out of Hillsborough County, Florida, including a 2016 felony conviction for uttering a forged bill and grand theft and a 2017 conviction for possessing counterfeit money. Jackson was convicted on May 29, 2019, in the Middle District of Florida for passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes and was sentenced to 36 months’ probation and six months home detention. His probation was later revoked in the Middle District of Florida to a term of 8 months in prison for violating the terms of his probation and home detention. That sentence is set to run consecutively to his sentence in the present case.

This case is being investigated by the United States Secret Service and Perry Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Ouzts is prosecuting the case for the Government. Questions can be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603 or Melissa Hodges, Public Affairs Director (Contractor), United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 765-2362.