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Capitol Heights Man Pleads Guilty To Manufacturing, Passing Counterfeit Currency

GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ) -- A Capitol Heights man pleaded guilty Tuesday to manufacturing and passing counterfeit currency.

Ricco Darnell Taylor, 32, faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to pass counterfeit currency and a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for manufacturing counterfeit currency.

According to his guilty plea, from at least 2017 to December 2019, Taylor, conspired with others to manufacture and pass counterfeit currency.

Taylor manufactured the counterfeit currency using a printer at his home. He then gave the counterfeit currency to his co-conspirators or occasionally sold it, according to court documents.

Taylor and his co-conspirators took the counterfeit currency to retailers in the area, where they used it to purchase merchandise. The conspirators subsequently returned the merchandise and received genuine currency.

According to court documents, the Secret Service collected evidence from dozens of instances in which Taylor and his co-conspirators passed counterfeit currency.

In total, Taylor and his co-conspirators are responsible for passing between $95,000 and $150,000 in counterfeit currency, officials said.

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