MTN News
11:47 am
November 9, 2018
(GREAT FALLS) Martin Phillip Rose, who was convicted in a counterfeiting scheme, was sentenced on Thursday to 14 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris presided at the hearing.
Rose, 44 years old, pleaded guilty in July to aiding and abetting counterfeiting obligations or securities of the United States.
The investigation began in 2017 when a significant amount of counterfeit money began circulating throughout Great Falls.
In July 2017, Rose passed a fake $50 bill at a business and was arrested.
Following his arrest, investigators continued receiving information that Rose was making counterfeit $50 bills by taking legitimate $10 bills, washing them with chemicals and re-printing them as $50 bills.
Rose acknowledged to investigators he had run short on money and started making counterfeit bills.
Court documents state that Rose explained that he previously showed someone how to take a $10 bill, wash the ink, and reprint a $50 bill on the legitimate $10 bill. He used a degreaser to remove the ink. The defendant added that he had researched on the internet how to counterfeit, and sometimes used concrete cleaner to rinse the ink off the genuine bills. He then would print a $50 bill on the legitimate $10 bill. He acknowledged that he had recently passed numerous counterfeit $50 bills.
Investigators identified 51 victims of Rose’s counterfeit scheme.
In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Betley noted that Rose was sentenced in 2012 in federal court in Montana on a previous counterfeiting crime.
Betley prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Great Falls Police Department
