Man pleads guilty to passing counterfeit checks, faces 25 years

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting the passing or attempted passing of counterfeit checks.

Terrance Smith, 39, took a plea deal.  Smith distributed counterfeit checks that used the business checking account of a Jacksonville church, according to officials.

Smith drove people to check cashing businesses to cash the checks for him. He picked the people up, and they gave the cash directly to him, according to officials.

Smith paid the people for every check they cashed successfully.

Police set up surveillance in November 2013 and found Smith in a park he was using as a pick up location for the people cashing checks for him.

When Smith noticed police, he began ripping up the counterfeit checks.

He faces a maximum of 25 years in federal prison on each count.  Smith also faces a maximum of two years for violating the supervised release violation.

WJAX