A man from the Atlanta area has pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme that recruited homeless people to cash counterfeit checks in several New England states in exchange for small cash payments, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Michael Williams, 26, of East Point pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Rhode Island.
Williams and three alleged accomplices attempted to cash about $678,000 worth of counterfeit checks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine, causing banks to lose almost $500,000, authorities said.
Once a person agreed to cash a check, Williams and his codefendants would create a counterfeit check in the amount of about $2,000 made payable to that person and drive them to a bank. In exchange, the recruited person was paid about $100, prosecutors said.
The scheme came undone in February when a person recruited by Williams and one of his accomplices entered a Providence bank and pointed out their car.
A search of a Providence home used by the suspects resulted in the seizure of a computer loaded with a program used to design and print checks, a printer, blank check stock, and an envelope containing stolen checks and about $5,000 in cash.
Williams is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 21.
His alleged accomplices, all from Georgia, are awaiting trial.
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