ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 22, 1996 TAG: 9611250119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
THE COUNTERFEITER said he saw a counselor several times for help with his problem, but had to finance the appointments by writing more bad checks.
Jack Swint said he just wants to get professional help to stop the "craving."
The Bedford County man, who has confessed to creating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit payroll checks, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to eight counts of possessing and passing the checks.
As a result of his plea, John Joseph "Jack" Swint, 42, of Montvale likely will receive three years in prison plus a fine, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Peters. He faces a maximum penalty of 80 years in prison and a $2 million fine. Swint also must make restitution for $13,500 worth of checks he passed in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee.
The plea agreement prevents the U.S. attorney from bringing any additional charges in the Western District of Virginia but does not prohibit other jurisdictions from pursuing charges. Swint currently faces 21 check-related counts in Bedford County and another three in Botetourt County. Trials will be held in January in both jurisdictions.
Swint told Judge James Turk that he had been writing bad checks since he was a child, and over the last several years he had turned to creating payroll checks at quick-copy shops. He estimated he had cashed more than $200,000 worth of checks. He told The Roanoke Times in April that he had passed checks in at least 17 states and in the names of more than 30 companies.
Did he do it for the money? Turk asked.
"It really didn't have anything to do with the money," Swint said Thursday. "A lot of [the money] I gave away. It wasn't about the money."
Swint told his then-wife and several newspaper reporters about his check-cashing history this spring because, he said, he wanted to be caught so he couldn't write any more checks. It was an illness, he said, a "craving," and he couldn't quit on his own. He turned himself - and his check-making equipment - over to the Bedford County Sheriff's Office in late July.
"My bottom-line motivation is, I wanted to stop," Swint said. He saw a professional counselor several times, he said, but had to finance the appointments by writing more bad checks.
But David Damico, Swint's court-appointed attorney, said he doubts his client will get much help through the federal system.
"Who treats somebody like that?" he said.
Sentencing on the eight federal charges - which represent checks that were linked to Swint by the state forensics lab, according to FBI Special Agent Gerald Orndorff - is scheduled for early February. Swint's bond was set at $15,000. He told the court that he had been offered a carpentry job and that his ex-wife's mother will post bond.
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