Four men from Georgia have been sentenced in a check forgery scam that encompassed four states.
According to the US Attorney Zachary Cunha, the four devised a scheme to exploit homeless people from the Providence area to cash nearly 700 thousad dollars worth of counterfeit business checks at banks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut as well as Maine.
According to federal prosecutors in Rhode Island, "Cortavious Benford, 27, and Michael Williams, 27, of Atlanta; Austin Weaver, 27 of Decatur; and Jalen Ronald Stanford 28, of East Point, admitted that they created counterfeit checks, generally in the amount of $2,000 or more, made payable to homeless individuals who agreed to be driven to banks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine to cash them."
The four men, all from Georgia were sentenced to federal prison terms of between 25 and 41 months in prison.
Prosecutors say the men offered the homeless people involved one hundred dollars for every check they were able to cash.
In addition to the sentences- the four will be required to make restitution to the tune of 481 thousand dollars.
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