A Florida woman will spend the next three years in federal prison for counterfeiting after an attempt in January 2020 to pass phony $100 bills in a Dillard's department store in Jonesboro, Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. decided Wednesday morning.
Jamie Marie Dewberry, 37, of Dunnellon, Fla., pleaded guilty last September to one count of manufacturing counterfeit currency, which could have landed her in prison for 20 years. Based on Dewberry's offense and criminal history, the advisory guideline sentencing range was 30 to 37 months in prison, a fine of $5,500 to $55,000 and a term of supervised release between one and three years.
Based on the guidelines, Marshall sentenced Dewberry to 36 months in prison, three years supervised release -- which he said he would transfer to the Middle District of Florida -- and a $100 special assessment.
Dewberry was indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 4, 2020, on one count each of counterfeiting $1,400 in $100 bills and possessing $1,400 in $100 bills. The government dropped the possession count in exchange for Dewberry's guilty plea.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris, in arguing for a sentence at the high end of the guideline range, noted Dewberry's criminal history, "beginning at the age of 18 and continuing to the present."
"Looking at the offense itself we have a low dollar amount here, just a few hundred dollars were passed in this case and I believe nine counterfeit $100 bills were found on her," Harris said. "But I think it's important to note that at the time she committed the offense she was on supervision out of Florida for this exact same conduct."
Harris said Dewberry admitted to Florida officials after a December 2018 arrest by Citrus County deputies that drugs, counterfeiting equipment and multiple fake $100 bills found in her car belonged to her.
"After she was sentenced in that case and put on conditions, she absconded from the state of Florida, came to Arkansas and she committed this crime," Harris said. "And she admitted to passing counterfeit notes in Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma, in addition to Arkansas."
Tamera Lee Deaver, Dewberry's defense attorney, said her client's legal troubles stemmed from a lifelong battle with drug addiction and asked that she be recommended for the Bureau of Prisons' Residential Drug Abuse Program -- known as RDAP -- a voluntary, 500-hour, nine- to 12-month program of individual and group therapy for federal prisoners with substance abuse problems.
"A low-end sentence would be enough time for her to complete the RDAP program and we believe that would take into account the nature and the circumstance of this offense," Deaver said. "It was a nonviolent offense. Ms. Dewberry is not now and has never been a danger to the public... We don't believe that the public needs further protection from Ms. Dewberry but we do realize her actions were wrong and she needs to be punished for them."
Prior to sentencing, Dewberry read from a brief statement following a friendly admonishment from the judge to read slowly.
"Pledge of Allegiance speed to help me and the court reporter hear," Marshall said. "As one reads the tendency is to go fast, especially if one is nervous. Are you nervous?"
"Oh yes, very nervous," Dewberry said, nervously.
"Something would be wrong if you weren't," Marshall said, kindly.
Reading the letter, Dewberry expressed remorse, admitting to a history of drug addiction and bipolar disorder, but said that could not excuse her actions.
"I was raised by good parents and I was taught right from wrong," she read. "I make bad choices sometimes and I get caught up in them... I've struggled with this most of my life so I know better... My addiction has cost me everything I value and hold dear to my heart.
"Between my case in Florida and here I've managed to make a real mess," she continued. "I know my actions and choices have consequences and I'm ready to face them so I can move forward in my life for myself and my family... I can see how I may seem like a lost cause but I'm not... I want sobriety, I want goodness, stability and a life worth living."
"Thank you," Marshall said. "Those are eloquent words and I needed to hear them, given what I have read about in the paper because, as you said, when one looks at that, it looks like a mess over time."
Nevertheless, he said, the upper range sentence was justified, that the public was entitled to be protected from actions such as Dewberry's.
"I'm sure it doesn't hurt Dillard's that much, which is a big company, as you know," he said, "but mom-and-pop stores and smaller businesses, every dollar is important and it's important that we be honest and honorable in our financial dealings.
"The economy is based on trust and people have to be able to trust the money coming across the counter."