A Camden man has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Court documents and statements made in court revealed that 25-year-old Arthur Jerome Eldridge, Jr. conspired with others to print counterfeit U.S. Treasury Checks, deposit them at area banks, and withdraw funds from those accounts.
Eldridge was indicted by a federal grand jury and pled guilty on March 22 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
In addition to Eldridge’s sentence, he is also ordered to pay $71,601 in restitution.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi and the U.S. Secret Service collaborated with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office to investigate this case through a partnership with the Cyber Fraud Task Force.
“I established Mississippi’s first Cyber Fraud Task Force with our U.S. Secret Service partners to protect Mississippians from the many ways that bad actors use the online world to commit the kinds of crimes that not only victimize individuals but wreak havoc on the financial system as a whole,” Attorney General Lynn Fitch said. “This case is a great example of how, working together, we can stop a predator doing more harm to individuals, businesses, and the underlying financial system we all depend upon.”
Mia Peterson, Eldridge’s co-defendant, is scheduled for trial on September 5. She is charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
