Florence, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Holly Denise Sturkey, 42, of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court to Conspiracy to Manufacture and Pass Forged Securities. 

Evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing established that from May through October 2017, Sturkey was involved in a conspiracy to manufacture and pass forged checks of organizations.

This conspiracy was responsible for stealing mail from mailboxes at various residences in Horry County and other counties in an effort to locate genuine checks within the mail.  Sturkey would then alter and/or forge various information on the checks, including names and signatures of payees and account holders, so that she could deposit those checks into a bank account to which she had access.  She would then withdraw the funds from this account and keep the proceeds for herself.   

Sturkey faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.  United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell of Florence accepted the guilty plea and will sentence Sturkey after receiving and reviewing a presentence investigation report prepared by the United States Probation Office.

The case was investigated by agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with the assistance of the Horry County Police Department and the North Myrtle Beach Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney A. Bradley Parham of the Florence office is prosecuting the case.

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