A 24 year old man, charged in a cash counterfeiting operation earlier this year, pleaded guilty to forgery by passing Monday in DeKalb County Criminal Court
Judge Leon Burns, Jr. sentenced Jason Ryan Chapman to two years, all suspended to time served. He must perform 100 hours of community service on probation and make restitution of $40 to Wal-mart. He was given credit for eight days of jail time served.
Chapman, a former employee of Walmart in Smithville, could be seen on a videotape from the store’s surveillance camera , making purchases at Walmart with some of the counterfeit money.
Smithville Police Detective Sergeant Jerry Hutchins, Jr. said at the time of the arrest that “On March 21st a patrol officer responded to Walmart in reference to counterfeit money showing up. The case was assigned to me and I received the videotape from the manager of Walmart that shows an employee, Jason Chapman basically passing $40 in counterfeit currency to purchase items there. I developed a lead in the city and he (Sheriff) had some tips in the county he had come up with and we put our information together and was able to resolve the case.”
Two other people in the case, 24 year old Megan Ann Lann and her boyfriend, 27 year old Somer Walid Abdalla were indicted in August on charges of criminal simulation and passing counterfeit bills as currency.
Abdalla pleaded guilty on August 18th to criminal simulation over $1,000 and received a two year sentence, all suspended to supervised TDOC probation. The case is to run consecutive with a violation of probation sentence against him in the General Sessions Court in another case. Under terms of the plea agreement, Abdalla cannot associate with his girlfriend Lann except for court authorized contact with their child. All jail credit of 143 days from March 28th, 2008 to August 18th, 2008 shall be applied to the violation of probation sentence in the General Sessions court case.
Lann pleaded guilty to forgery (passing) and received a two year sentence, all suspended to TDOC supervised probation. She must make restitution toWal-mart in the amount of $240 and perform 100 hours of community service work. She must not associate with her boyfriend Abdalla under terms of the plea agreement.
Abdalla, Lann, and Chapman were arrested as the result of a joint investigation by the Smithville Police Department and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.
Lann and Abdalla were accused of producing at least $800 to $1,000 in counterfeit $10 and $20 bills on a desktop and laptop computer and printer in their home and then passing some of those bills at local and area businesses.
Detective Sergeant Hutchins says the Smithville Police Department also charged Lann and Chapman with passing counterfeit bank bills as currency.
Sheriff Ray and Detective Sergeant Hutchins say counterfeit bills showed up at several businesses during the winter and spring. The bills had no water marks or bar codes and some were not cut squarely. The bills also had some of the same serial numbers.
According to Sheriff Ray, both Abdalla and Lann were involved in manufacturing the counterfeit bills.
In other court cases Monday, 35 year old Lisa Dillon pleaded guilty to theft over $10,000 and received a four year sentence with six years of DOC probation. Dillon must make restitution of $12,841 to the victim in the case and perform 100 hours of community service work.
22 year old Christopher P. Mulford pleaded guilty to sale of a schedule VI controlled substance and received a two year sentence with 30 days to serve. He must perform 100 hours of community service work and make restitution of $100 to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. Mulford must also pay a fine of $2,000.
23 year old Edward Lee Judkins, Jr. pleaded guilty to theft over $1,000. He received a three year sentence to serve 150 days. The sentence is to run consecutive to a violation of probation in General Sessions Court. He must perform 100 hours of community service work and make restitution. Judkins was given jail credit for time served since February 26th.
30 year old Amy Renee Ford pleaded guilty to theft over $1,000 and was sentenced to two and a half years, suspended to and given credit for time served since March 29th. She will be on DOC supervised probation, must perform 100 hours of community service work, and must make restitution of $500.
24 year old Leonardo Rodriguez pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days, but he was given credit for time served since March 22nd and will be on supervised probation. He is under a restraining order to keep away from the victim in the case.
20 year old Steven Cantrell pleaded guilty to casual exchange and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days. He will be on supervised probation by PSI and must pay a $500 fine. Cantrell must also perform 100 hours of community service work and make restitution of $100 to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. The case is to run consecutive to a General Sessions Court case against him.
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