Campbell woman sentenced for counterfeit checks

A Campbell County woman who pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $36,000 by printing her own counterfeit checks was sentenced to 15 months in prison in U.S. District Court here Tuesday morning.

Deanna Holland Staples, 47, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in February, although her lawyer, Randy Cargill, said the check counterfeiting crimes are four and five years old.

According to court records, Staples bought a check-writing computer program in 2004. She then used blank check paper stock and her computer to create checks using fake names, address and account numbers, according to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

While the checks were designed to appear as if they were from various banks, the routing number printed on them meant they were all drawn on The Farmers Bank of Appomattox, according to the complaint filed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering told the court 57 victims were involved in the fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office earlier issued a press release stating Staples’ checks were used at businesses in Forest, Richmond and Charlottesville.

Judge Norman Moon ordered Staples to pay $35,951 in restitution.

Cargill asked for leniency in sentencing based on a letter from Staples’ physician stating that mental illness may have contributed to her behavior while she was counterfeiting checks. Now that her illness is under control, Cargill and character witnesses said, “she is a changed person.”

Her sentence was at the low end of a suggested sentencing range.

“I apologize to the businesses I have inconvenienced, to the government and to my family,” she told the court. “I can’t apologize enough.”