GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On March 22, 2018, Jason Massengill, 39, of Kingsport, Tennessee, was sentenced to serve 37 months in federal prison by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge, for his role in a conspiracy to produce counterfeit obligations of the United States with intent to defraud the government.
Massengill pleaded guilty in October 2017 to one count of a four-count indictment charging him and three co-conspirators with the offense referenced above. Details of their scheme are included in Massengill’s plea agreement on file with U.S. District Court. According to the plea agreement, from March 2017 through July 2017 Massengill and his co-conspirators produced counterfeit Federal Reserve notes, which were used and attempted to be used to purchase various items from retail outlets and private individuals. One such purchase was a vehicle from two individuals in Elizabethton, Tennessee. This vehicle was later proven to have been used by Massengill and one of his co-conspirators as a place to produce and hide the counterfeit notes as well as supplies needed to make them.
Massengill along with his co-conspirators produced the counterfeit notes by taping real money to a flatbed scanner, scanning it, and then printing the front and back of the scanned notes to various types of parchment paper purchased from a local retail establishment. Investigators determined that Massengill and co-conspirators produced between $95,000 and $150,000 in counterfeit Federal Reserve notes, of which Massengill was personally involved with at least $35,000.
Others charged in this conspiracy included: Sean Bowman, 19, of Jonesborough, Tennessee; Robert William Guy, 19, of Kingsport, Tennessee; and Darrell Lansing Hobbs, a/k/a Darrell "Lance" Hobbs, 36, of Gray, Tennessee. Bowman pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and was sentenced to serve five years of probation after serving approximately five months in prison. Guy also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and awaits sentencing. Hobbs pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce counterfeit obligations of the United States with intent to defraud the government as well as begin a felon in possession
of firearms and possession of stolen firearms. Sentencing for Hobbs is set for March 27, 2018, in U.S. District Court in Greeneville.
Investigative agencies participating in this case included the United States Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kingsport Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Carter County Sheriff’s Office, Bluff City Police Department, Erwin Police Department and Elizabethton Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney TJ Harker represented the United States in court proceedings.
--DOJ Eastern District of Tennessee