Greenville, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated that Jamie Edward Cole, age 38, of Gray Court, S.C. entered a guilty plea today in federal court in Greenville, to Manufacturing Counterfeit Currency, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 471. United States District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks accepted the guilty plea and will impose the sentence after she has reviewed the presentence report, which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that in early 2017, Cole passed counterfeit currency at numerous stores throughout the Upstate, which he manufactured himself. Many of the illegal passes were captured on the businesses’ video surveillance. When Cole was arrested, he was found with counterfeit currency on him.
Ms. Drake stated that the maximum penalty Cole could receive is 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 dollars.
The case was investigated by agents of the United States Secret Service, Anderson Country Sheriff’s Office, Simpsonville Police Department, and Greenville City Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Jamie Lea Schoen of the Greenville office prosecuted the case.
--DOJ District of South Carolina