Charges of Counterfeiting Checks

[texas-tech]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: United States of America

This series of questions relates to my brother.
Here is a timeline of his relevant actions over the years

Active Warrant For Felony Probation In California Dating From 1997 due to check fraud (Warrant Marked as "Non-Extraditeable")

Settlement With IRS For Payment Arrangements For Tax Violations of $10,000 +

Bankruptcy Finalized Late 2010 / Early 2011

Mid 2011 He filed a motion with Bankruptcy Court to temporaly lower his repayment obligations to the trustee due to being out of work and on disability.

Mid 2011 He was contacted by U.S. Secret Service and the Indiana State Police in connection with his role of 5+ member counterfiet check writing group targetting big box retailers to the tune of $60,000+ . They Specifically mentioned counterfieting device when taking a laser printer with MICR Toner and loaded with check stock. Seized numerous of pages of check stock. Multiple other issues that I am sure a investigator and/or prosecutor can play with due to the massive amounts of physical evidence taken from the suspects homes. My brother also spilled his guts 100%, claiming to be be the brains of the operation after being mirandized by the US Agents and State Police Investigators on the intial contact. ** He is currently under investigation by these agencies **

May 2012 He took a plea deal from county DA for multiple bad checks, paid restitution, placed on 36 month informal probation.

October 2012 He was being referred to U.S. Secret Service by a bank for stealing the ID of his mother, opening 4 credit card accounts and charging $50,000 from June 2012 to October 2012, and Obtaining a Signature loan of a undisclosed amount to consolidate the credit card debt before the bank had become suspicious. he also told bank investigators on recorded conversation voluntarily 100% of the info pertaining to the crime, and confessing to doing it.


After talking very shortly with my brother, He seems to feel he will get a payment plan, house arrest, and some probation. Being able to keep his very good job with sweet benefits.

Some friends believe he will get a slap on the hand, and get 3-5 in some country club federal penn since no one got hurt and its white collar.

I am under the impression, that with the points system in sentencing guidelines in the federal system, and with his priors, and the way there are points modifiers and whatnot, I feel they are going to lock him up and throw away the cell. The courts would presumably feel he was a habitual offender with the financial crimes starting at age 19 in 1996-1997 and being on the run from California since. Would surely have to answer for the bankruptcy court fraud that I am sure ensued, the perjury from his motion of having limited income for a period of time while committed what I would think would be organized crime being the ringleader of 5+ people. All the physical items and wealth he acquired like cars and high end electronics that werent reported to his trustee to be sold to pay his BK debts. I'm sure the IRS will have something to say about the $70-$100K cash he obtained for fiscal year 2011 and 2012 and didn't report. Then they can start piling on the hundreds of charges available to the counterfieting and ID theft and Credit Card Frauds.


What are some reasonable expectations here?

On a side note, he has been free while they are doing their intial Federal Investigation since 2011, which has been kind of baffeling, considering he confessed to the counterfieitng and stuff. I think the feds are going through the motions with California to get the extradition taken off his warrant, so they can take him into custody and get the legal force multipliers moving.

Sorry if it isn't the best of the english language, but just really upset about finding out he did all this ust the other day.

Thank You Guys

[Mr. Knowitall]

Work through the sentencing guidelines and see what you come up with. If you don't want to do that yourself, ask your relative what scores his attorney came up with, or if they're talking plea bargain what the U.S. Attorney's office is arguing. Obviously, a plea bargain or cooperation with authorities can make a huge difference. There's no point in our trying to do that for you - even if we wanted to spend that much time, we don't have the necessary information.

[texas-tech]

Ok, ran through the worksheet, and going modestly, not knowing how the prosecuting US Attorney will arrange charges I came to multiple conclusions, this would be the best case scenario with the US Attornies running all the counterfiet charges into one , and going with the higher base offense level due to higher monetary loss.


2B5.1 Counterfieting ($60,000) = Base Offense Level 17
2B1.1 Credit Card Fraud ($20,000) = Base Offense Level 10
2B1.1 Credit Card Fraud ($10,000) = Base Offense Level 8
2B1.1 Credit Card Fraud ($10,000) = Base Offense Level 8
2B1.1 Credit Card Fraud ($10,000) = Base Offense Level 8
2T1.1 Tax Evasion = Base Offense Level 12

Base Offense level = 63
Criminal History Category: 6

Could he really be looking at a mandatory life sentence (Base Offense Level = 43+) if the government goes full tilt on him?

[flyingron]

Don't forget they can also hit him up with a sentence for the revoked probation on his first charge.
He needs a good lawyer.