ALEXANDRIA, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Leesville man was sentenced last week to 40 months in prison for taking part in counterfeiting $100 bills in order to purchase prepaid cards.
Deldrick Shykil Fowler, 25, of Leesville, La., previously of DeQuincy, La., was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell on one count of counterfeiting obligations to the United States. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. According to the August 10, 2017 guilty plea, Fowler helped another unnamed conspirator on December 27, 2016 use a genuine $100 bill to make 58 counterfeit copies. The conspirator then passed $1,500 worth of counterfeit bills at a DeRidder, La., department store in exchange for three prepaid debit cards. The conspirator discarded the unused counterfeit bills in a trashcan at a park. The counterfeit bills were later found and provided to law enforcement officers. The officers located Fowler the next day and discovered him with two of the three prepaid cards. He had already spent the third card.
The U.S. Secret Service, Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office and the DeRidder Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Abendroth prosecuted the case.
--DOJ Western District of Louisiana