Greensboro, N.C. Man Is Sentenced To Prison For Conspiracy To Manufacture Thousands Of Dollars In Counterfeit U.S. Currency

STATESVILLE, N.C. – Joseph Haywood Smith, 45, of Greensboro, N.C., was sentenced to 41 months in prison late yesterday, for conspiracy to manufacture more than $7,000 in counterfeit U.S. currency, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell also sentenced Smith’s co-defendant, Angela Kristen Shaw, 39, also of Greensboro, to time served, and ordered both defendants to serve two years of supervised release.

Reginald A. DeMatteis, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Charlotte Field Office, joins U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, from February 2019 to March 2019, Smith and Shaw manufactured counterfeit U.S. currency, which they then used to purchase goods at various retail stores in the greater Statesville area. According to court records, the defendants purchased art supplies, and used them to manufacture more than 335 counterfeit $20 bills, and more than 63 counterfeit $10 bills. Court records show that during the relevant time period, the defendants used, or attempted to use, the counterfeit currency to buy merchandise at various retail stores, including at Burger King, CVS, and Dollar General located in Statesville, and elsewhere.

In pronouncing the sentence, Judge Bell noted that “counterfeiting is extremely serious,” and called Smith, who has a significant criminal history, a “career lifetime thief.”

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Murray thanked the U.S. Secret Service for their investigation of this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny G. Sugar, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.