Head of counterfeiting ring caught after escape

Posted: Mon 9:46 AM, Sep 03, 2012

ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) - The head of a counterfeiting ring in eastern Kentucky is scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 10, a month after being arrested after an escape from federal custody.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward B. Atkins will conduct the hearing for 52-year-old Harold James in federal court in Ashland, Ky.

James was serving 41 months in federal prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States. James admitted passing 108 phony checks to retailers, and that he manufactured more than 500 of the checks.

Eight other people were convicted in the scheme, which prosecutors say affected businesses in Boyd and Carter counties and in Lawrence County, Ohio, costing them roughly $65,000.

James escaped from a drug treatment center in Ashland, on May 10. U.S. Marshals caught James in Atlanta on Aug. 13.

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