JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Darius Edwards has pleaded guilty to manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes, many of those bills passed at Jacksonville businesses late last year.
According to the plea agreement, in November and December 2014, Edwards, 35, of Tampa, used computer media to manufacture counterfeit $10, $20 and $100 bills, then gave them to Timothy Deante Burroughs, a co-defendant in the case. During the same period, Burroughs and Edwards entered various businesses in Jacksonville and passed counterfeit $100 bills.
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On December 1, 2014, Burroughs entered a Publix and passed counterfeit bills. Upon being confronted by store employees, he ran the store on foot. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office found Burroughs at a nearby motel and detained him. A search of the motel room turned up an additional counterfeit $100 bills and led law enforcement to another motel in the immediate vicinity.
At the second location, law enforcement encountered Edwards in front of a motel room. During a search of Edwards's room, officers found sheets of uncut counterfeit $100, $20, $10, $1 bills, along with several bleached genuine $10 bills printed as counterfeit $100 notes. They also recovered several computers and printers being used by Edwards to manufacture counterfeit currency.
On Oct. 20, 2015, Burroughs, 32, of Jacksonville, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
According to U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III, a sentencing date for Edwards has not yet been set.