09-22-05 -- Priest, Walter -- Guilty Plea -- News Release

Egg Harbor City Man Pleads Guilty to Counterfeiting $100 Bills

CAMDEN - An Egg Harbor City man pleaded guilty today to a one-count Information, admitting that he counterfeited $100 Federal Reserve Notes, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Walter Priest, 71, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2006. Judge Rodriguez continued the defendant's bail pending sentencing.

At his plea hearing, Priest admitted that from April 2004 to May 2004, he made counterfeit $100 bills. Priest admitted that he used a computer, scanner and printer, among other things, to make the counterfeit U.S. currency. Furthermore, Priest admitted that toward the end of April 2004 he distributed nine counterfeit $100 bills to another person in exchange for some genuine U.S. currency. Priest admitted that it was his intention that this person would then pass the counterfeit bills to other people.

Priest stated that following his arrest on May 4, 2004, he consented to a search of his residence. Priest admitted that the search resulted in the seizure of counterfeit $100 bills with a face value of approximately $23,000. Priest admitted that most of the counterfeit bills were incomplete, in that they only were printed on one side and/or were not yet cut out from the paper on which they were printed.

In the filing of a felony Information, a defendant waives the right to have his or her case presented to a federal grand jury and, instead, pleads guilty to charges presented by the Government.

The charge to which the defendant pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In determining an actual sentence, the judge to whom the case is assigned would, upon a conviction, consult the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, Philadelphia Division, for investigation of the case.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Wiener of the U.S. Attorney's Office Criminal Division in Camden.

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Defense Attorney: Christopher O'Malley, Esq. Federal Public Defender's Office