Jacob R. Kirkley, Counterfeiting, Illinois 2025

Jacob R. Kirkley, Counterfeiting, Illinois 2025

URBANA, Ill. – Jacob R. Kirkley, 48, was sentenced to four years in prison for his second federal counterfeiting conviction and an additional 18 months in prison for violating his federal supervised release, making a total of 5.5 years in prison. When he completes his sentence, he will be required to serve three years of federal supervised release.

Kirkley was convicted of manufacturing, selling, and possessing counterfeited United States currency following a trial last December in Urbana. The government presented evidence to establish that Kirkley sold an undercover officer with the Illinois State Police $1000 of counterfeited U.S. currency for $250 on December 7, 2023. He then sold the officer another $1000 and $5000 in counterfeit U.S. currency on December 13, 2023, and January 8, 2024, respectively.

When agents of the U.S. Secret Service and Vermilion County Metropolitan Enforcement Group executed a federal search warrant at Kirkley’s residence in Bismarck on January 11, 2024, they recovered additional counterfeit currency and various items used to counterfeit the currency. At the time Kirkley committed these offenses, he was on federal supervised release for a previous federal counterfeiting conviction.

Kirkley was previously convicted of manufacturing U.S. currency and two counts of passing U.S. currency after a 2020 incident where a Vermilion County Sheriff’s Deputy found over $20,000 of counterfeit U.S. currency in his truck and then learned Kirkley had passed counterfeit currency at various businesses in Illinois. He served 27 months in federal prison for those offenses and was serving a three-year term of federal supervised release at the time that he committed his latest counterfeiting offenses.

The government presented evidence that Kirkley violated his federal supervised release not only by committing a new counterfeiting offense, but also by testing positive for methamphetamine use on eight separate occasions. The government also presented evidence that Kirkley had told the undercover officer during a covertly recorded conversation that “my name’s a red flag for any kind of . . . counterfeit material at all,” that he learned how to use “Bible paper” to counterfeit currency when he was in federal prison the first time, and that he believed he would “be screwed” and would have “the book” thrown at him if he were caught counterfeiting again.

Kirkley was released from federal prison in May 2023, six months before committing these offenses. The maximum statutory penalties for each of Kirkley’s five counts of conviction are up to twenty years of imprisonment and up to a $250,000 fine. The maximum statutory penalty for Kirkley’s violation of his conditions of supervised release is up to two years of imprisonment.

Mandatory Facts:

Defendant/Respondent: Jacob R. Kirkley

Criminal Charges: Manufacturing, selling, and possessing counterfeited United States currency

City and State: Urbana, Illinois

Exact Date: May 2, 2025

Sentence or Outcome: Total of 5.5 years in prison, plus three years of federal supervised release

Dollar Amounts: $1000, $250, $1000, $5000, $20,000, $250,000

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