Brandon Jermaine Johnson, Counterfeit Check Conspiracy, Virginia 2014

An Atlanta man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a counterfeit check conspiracy that targeted the homeless and unemployed in Virginia.

Brandon Jermaine Johnson, 28, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to 96 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on charges of bank fraud and conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Johnson was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,098.30. He pleaded guilty on July 14, 2014.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial of co-defendant Rasheeda McConnell, Johnson was part of a group that stole business checks from commercial mailboxes and used them to make counterfeit checks. The group then recruited people from areas where the homeless or unemployed would congregate to cash the counterfeit checks.

Four other co-defendants in this case pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to terms of incarceration as follows: Jeffrey Keith Barnes, II, 7 ½ months; Devante Carson, 33 months; Christopher Eugene Pope, 15 months; and Kevin Lavon Smith, 9 months. Another co-defendant, Rasheeda McConnell, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to serve 60 months.

This case was part of Operation Homeless, a nationwide initiative being conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Attorney’s Offices to aggressively prosecute groups that recruit the homeless and indigent to cash counterfeit checks.

Johnson recruited check-cashers and provided them with counterfeit checks. He was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Secret Service, Chesterfield County Police Department, and Henrico County Police Department as members of the Metro-Richmond Identity Theft Task Force.

Prosecutions for the Task Force are handled by the United States Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles A. Quagliato and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Moore are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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