By Carol Robinson

Seven people have been sentenced in a counterfeit U.S. Treasury Bond scheme that cost Alabama financial institutions more than $1 million in losses.

Middle District of Alabama Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross announced the sentencings Monday and said the defendants created and passed dozens of counterfeit bonds beginning in 2021.

Zachary Lee Hale, a 38-year-old Daleville man, in 2021 began making the fake bond certificates and redeeming them at credit unions and banks in the Wiregrass area.

Once he figured out that his scheme was successful, authorities said, Hale recruited at least six others to join him and pass more counterfeit bonds.

Court documents indicate that Hale and his co-conspirators were responsible for at least $1,093,911 in loss to various financial institutions.

Hale pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States in October.

On Jan. 17, he was sentenced to 92 months – nearly eight years – in prison, followed by three years of supervised released.

Also sentenced on Jan. 17 were:

• Stephanie Jean Abercrombie, 42, of Daleville, Alabama, was sentenced to 42 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy to defraud the U.S.

• David Michael Penuel, 45, of Kinston, received a sentence of 18 months, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to bank fraud.

• Joni Marie Andrews, 43, also from Kinston, was sentenced to one year in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

• Marsha Renee Skeen, 52, another resident of Daleville, received a sentence of one year of probation following a guilty plea to misprision of a felony. That means she failed to report knowledge of a felony to authorities.

• Timothy Bryant Baxter, 45, of Troy, was sentenced to six months of home confinement as a condition of two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to bank fraud conspiracy to defraud the U.S.

On Nov. 8, 2023, Joseph Fletcher Lee, Jr., 48, originally from Marianna, Florida, received a sentence of three years in in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy to defraud the U.S.

Lee was also involved in Hale’s scheme, authorities said.

All of the defendants were ordered to pay restitution for the amount of loss they caused.

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