Accused Of Printing Fake Money, Prince George's Man Pleads Guilty

Bowie MD

04 March, 2021

2:51 PM

Description

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, MD — A Prince George's County man pleaded guilty to printing and using counterfeit money, a report announced Wednesday. Authorities identified the man as 32-year-old Ricco Darnell Taylor of Capitol Heights. The incident report noted that 30-year-old Deon Kelsey Jones of Temple Hills and 29-year-old Keara Unique Davis of Capitol Heights were also involved. Both suspects previously pleaded guilty to related crimes, but charges are still pending for an unnamed third codefendant, the U.S. Secret Service added. Law enforcement accused the suspects of passing between $95,000 and $150,000 worth of illegal cash, all of which must be repaid to the victims. The Secret Service alleged that the group bought items with the fake money and later returned the merchandise to collect real currency. Authorities explained that Taylor made the cash at his home with a printer. He shared some of the money with his partners and sold another sliver of the cash, a press release mentioned. This went on from 2017 to at least December 2019, the write-up indicated. Police informed that they searched Taylor and Davis' shared home on March 23, 2018. Officers reported finding: Cell phonesThree counterfeit $100 billsGift cardsReceipts from a victim retailerLinen copy paper that is often used to counterfeit moneyA printerA scaleBaggiesTwo shell casingsA .38-caliber revolver The Secret Service determined that the ink from Taylor's printer matched the ink on the counterfeit bills. The agency also wrote that it recovered the following evidence from several transactions on June 19, 2019: Eight counterfeit $100 billsVideo recordings of the purchasesReceipts from their transactions The release additionally laid out two times that police pulled Taylor over. He tried to run away both times, but officers only caught and detained him during the first traffic stop, the write-up clarified. In that first encounter on July 26, 2019, authorities specified that they found: 18 counterfeit $100 billsTaylor's cell phoneText messages that referenced the counterfeiting scheme The second incident came on October 10, 2019, when police revealed that Taylor threw evidence in the trash as he fled. Officers recalled searching the can and finding: 13 cut counterfeit $100 bills with the same serial numberThree pages of uncut $20 bills with three repeating serial numbers and Taylor's fingerprints24 pages of uncut $20 bills with three repeating serial numbers that did not have Taylor's fingerprintsA key to the vehicle that Taylor abandoned The Secret Service disclosed that Taylor faces: Up to five years in federal prison on charges of conspiracy to pass counterfeit currencyUp to 20 years in federal prison on charges of manufacturing counterfeit currency The report listed these sentencing dates for the defendants: Taylor: June 4Jones: March 23Davis: June 2 Have a story idea? Please contact me at [email protected] with any pitches, tips or questions. Follow me on Twitter @JacobBaumgart and on Facebook @JacobBaumgartJournalist to stay up-to-date with the latest Anne Arundel County and Prince George's County news.