Jeffersonville man sentenced for making and passing counterfeit U.S. Currency

PRESS RELEASE

New Albany – United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today that Jonathon Alan Frantz, 23, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, was sentenced to 30 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker following his guilty plea to six counts of possessing and passing counterfeit United States Currency and one count of making counterfeit United States Currency.  This case was the result of an investigation by the United States Secret Service, the Jeffersonville Police Department and the Clarksville Police Department.

Frantz plead guilty immediately before he was sentenced on June 29, 2015. At the time of his guilty plea, Frantz admitted that he used counterfeit currency to conduct numerous transactions with businesses in Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky in order to acquire debit cards and genuine currency.  Frantz further admitted that he produced the counterfeit United States Currency using on a color printer that was recovered by the Secret Service during the investigation.  The total amount counterfeit currency recovered was more than $6,500.

“This case, yet again, demonstrates the Secret Service’s commitment to protect our nation’s monetary system,” said Craig Hutzell, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service in Louisville. “The Secret Service was created 150 years ago for this mission, and in partnership with the Jeffersonville and Clarksville Police Departments, we continue to lock up those who take advantage of our merchants and neighbors in these schemes.  The determination and skill of agents and detectives, coupled with the partnerships we have created with law enforcement colleagues in Indiana and Kentucky, should send a strong message to would be counterfeiters that these crimes will not go unpunished.”

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Barker imposed 3 years of supervised release following Frantz’s release from prison. Frantz must participate in a drug abuse prevention program and submit to drug testing while on supervision.  Frantz was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $7,000.00

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