Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to 34 Months in Prison for Cashing Counterfeit Checks at Connecticut Banks

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DAVID DUPEE, also known as “Joshua Smellie,” “Luther Johnson,” and “Tahari Watkins,” 41, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven to 34 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for cashing more than $70,000 in counterfeit checks at Connecticut banks.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately June 2004 and June 2007, DUPEE cashed counterfeit checks at banks throughout central Connecticut. The counterfeit checks, which ranged in amounts between $550 and $1000, appeared to be payroll checks from various Connecticut businesses and municipalities. The checks had the actual bank account numbers of the entities that purportedly issued the check, and DUPEE cashed the checks at the banks that held the accounts upon which the checks were purportedly drawn. The counterfeit checks were made out in the names of aliases for which DUPEE had obtained false Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles identification, and DUPEE used that false identification at the banks in order to complete the fraudulent transactions.

Today, Judge Kravitz ordered DUPEE to pay restitution in the amount of $76,219 to the victim banks.

On August 2, 2010, DUPEE pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.

DUPEE has been detained in federal custody since February 11, 2010.

This matter was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also assisted in the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David T. Huang and Anastasia Enos King, with the assistance of law student intern Catherine Rivkin.