Jax woman pleads guilty to counterfeiting charges

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 30-year-old Jacksonville woman has pleaded guilty to manufacturing and possessing counterfeit business checks.

Mychi Michelle Jones faces a maximum penalty of up to 25 years in federal prison for the manufacturing charge and up to 10 years' imprisonment on the possession charge. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, between 2013 and October 2014, Jones manufactured more than 100 counterfeit business checks. Working with others, she obtained compromised bank account numbers and payee names and used that information to print counterfeit business checks.

In an effort to make the checks look authentic, Jones used the names of various Jacksonville-area businesses as the purported issuers.

In October 2014, as part of a joint investigation with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, agents from the United States Secret Service executed a federal search warrant at Jones's room at the Emerson Inn hotel in Jacksonville. Agents located, among other items, a computer, a printer, blank check stock, and a large number of counterfeit checks in various stages of completion. A forensic examination of the seized computer subsequently established that it had been used by Jones to manufacture counterfeit business checks.

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and the United States Secret Service, Jacksonville Field Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein.