Joseph Bylow, 32, of Eagle, was sentenced Tuesday in United States District Court in Boise to 2 years and 6 months in prison for counterfeiting, according U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson announced.
Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge also ordered Bylow to pay restitution in the amount of $644. Bylow pleaded guilty on November 12, 2016.
According to the plea agreement, Bylow admitted that in July and August 2015, he and a co-defendant manufactured and passed counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes to various businesses in Eagle, Boise, and Emmett. Reports said Bylow and his co-defendant manufactured counterfeit one dollar notes by printing images of these notes on cotton paper stock. When officers of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office contacted Bylow and his co-defendant at their home, both admitted counterfeiting the notes and passing them at various businesses.
Officers seized an Epson printer, cotton business paper, a paper cutter, and sheets of paper with one-dollar notes printed on them. Thereafter, according to Olson, Bylow and his co-defendant began manufacturing counterfeit ten- and fifty-dollar notes by washing or bleaching one- and five-dollar notes and using them as blanks to print ten- and fifty-dollar notes.
When a search warrant was executed on Bylow and his co-defendant’s home, they were in possession of acetone, peroxide liquid bleach, copy paper, transparent tape, carpet cleaner, and a spray bottle—items used by Bylow and his co-defendant for manufacturing counterfeit notes. Approximately $500 of counterfeit $5, $10, and $50 bills in various stages of production were recovered during the execution of the search warrant, Olson said. Approximately $644 of counterfeit notes in denominations of one, ten, and fifty dollars were recovered as passed by Bylow and his co-defendant.
The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, and the Boise Police Department.
