Staff Report
Published June 23, 2011

A North Carolina man pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Florence to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said Michael Angelo Alexander, 46, of Salisbury, N.C., took part in a scheme to cash counterfeit checks.

Alexander, along with co-defendant Carlton Tomlinson, who previously pleaded guilty, and others, cashed counterfeit commercial checks in Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Georgetown, causing losses of more than $90,000.

Nettles said Alexander and Tomlinson claimed that two unidentified people gave them the checks and drove Alexander and Tomlinson to banks to cash them so that the unidentified people would not be photographed by bank cameras.

Alexander and Tomlinson were homeless at the time and recruited other homeless individuals to help negotiate the checks, Nettles said.

U.S. District Judge Terry L. Wooten of Florence accepted the plea.

The maximum penalty Alexander can receive is a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for 10 years, plus a special assessment of $100.

The case was investigated by the North Myrtle Beach Police Department and agents of the Secret Service.