Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A 26-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in federal prison for his 16th counterfeit check/forgery conviction.

Ramadan Tajedeen Shabazz, 26, of Forth Worth, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess counterfeit checks with the intent to obtain merchandise and cash.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble said a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper seized 21 blank checks that Shabazz and co-defendant Tremayne Keon Bowman, 27, Forth Worth, possessed in Van Zandt County. The men had already cashed two of the checks and intended to pass the rest, he added. He said averaging those two checks calculated that the intended loss of the 21 checks would be $10,152.

U.S. Public Defender Wayne Dickey said that amount would be speculation.

Shabazz apologized to the court and said he knew he had been in court before.

“This is my last time,” he said. “It’s just not worth it …”

Noble said the probation department recommended that his sentence be higher than the sentencing guideline range because he has been an unrepentant forger and counterfeiter for the past six years.

Dickey disagreed with the heightened sentence recommended and said his client was also facing revocation of his supervised release in Washington State. He said the defendant was aware he would be facing 25 years to life in prison if he was ever again charged with forgery in a state court.

Davis said when Shabazz committed the offense, he was on supervised release for another federal conviction and this was his 16th forgery or fraud-related conviction. He said Bowman was also Shabazz’s co-defendant in his last conviction.

Davis said the heightened sentence would stop his criminal conduct for at least the time he was incarcerated and would send the message that he will face a much larger sentence if he reoffends.

The judge ordered the defendant to pay $966.90 in restitution in the case and serve three years of supervised release.

Bowman earlier pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

When the men were stopped by a DPS trooper in Van Zandt County and consented to the officer searching their vehicle, the trooper found 21 blank checks signed by Auto Trader Publishing, a Norfolk, Va., company, on April 21, 2007.

Shabazz told the trooper they were taking the checks to his uncle in Virginia so the trooper let the men and their two female passengers go, but seized the checks, according to court documents. Employees at Auto Trader Publishing revealed that the checks were counterfeited and the signatures forged.

During a May 22, 2007, interview, Shabazz admitted that they knowingly possessed the counterfeit checks and the two men had agreed to transport the two women in their vehicle for them to attempt to pass the checks during their trip to Virginia, the documents state.