Two weeks before they were set to go to trial, the last two defendants to be charged in connection with a notorious counterfeit coupon case have agreed to plead guilty to fraud.
Florida residents Sherise Williams of Palmetto and Cindi Swindle of Jacksonville both reached plea agreements this week, admitting that they knowingly purchased and used counterfeit coupons with a combined face value of more than a million dollars.
The two were among five “coupon enthusiasts” indicted late last year, identified as the top customers of convicted counterfeiter Lori Ann Talens. The other three had previously admitted guilt, so all five will now be facing penalties for their actions.
After the Coupon Information Corporation was tipped off about her activities, Talens was charged back in 2021 with creating at least $31 million worth of counterfeit coupons and selling them online for a fraction of their face values. Her husband Pacifico was charged as an accomplice. When both were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, that seemed to be the end of that.
But then investigators took the unusual step of going after Talens’s customers. They identified Williams and Swindle, along with Amber Teague of Louisville, Kentucky, Melissa Apodaca of Thornton, Colorado, and Jennifer Snyder of Lavon, Texas as Talens’s top five customers, who together purchased roughly $3.5 million in counterfeits “and used them to defraud businesses and enrich themselves.”
When seizing Talens’s computer equipment, investigators noted that she had kept detailed records of her transactions and her customers, including their mailing addresses, photos of the coupons she sent them, and screenshots of their online conversations discussing the deals.
Williams was identified as Talens’s number-one customer. “In total, Williams purchased counterfeit coupons from Lori Ann Talens on 274 separate occasions and paid her $19,821.34,” her plea agreement reads. “The coupons Williams purchased caused an approximate loss of $991,067 to retailers and manufacturers.”
Of the five customers to be charged, Swindle bought the least, relatively speaking. Prosecutors said she paid Talens $4,776.98 in 42 transactions, for counterfeit coupons worth $238,849.
Over a three-week period earlier this summer, Teague, Apodaca and Snyder all admitted guilt, each agreeing to plead guilty to a single charge of mail fraud for receiving their counterfeit coupons via the U.S. Postal Service. An August 25th trial date for Williams and Swindle remained on the federal court calendar until Swindle pleaded guilty on Monday and Williams did the same yesterday.
They’re all now due to be sentenced in December. Each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, restitution and forfeiture of assets.
“The Coupon Information Corporation greatly appreciates the excellent work of the US Postal Inspection Service and the US Attorney’s office,” CIC Executive Director Bud Miller told Coupons in the News. “Clients of coupon counterfeiters are on notice, they can be, and have been, successfully prosecuted.”
Talens’s sixth biggest customer may be breathing a sigh of relief that prosecutors stopped after charging the top five. But those five likely never expected to be criminally charged for their actions, either. Anyone else who considers buying counterfeit coupons may now think twice, after seeing that those who create and sell counterfeits are no longer the only ones to face consequences.
Image source: FBI
