When counterfeit money shows up in Juneau, District Attorney James Scott said it’s usually a desperate attempt tied to another problem in Juneau — drug addiction.
Michael James Healey, 34, is an example of just that, Scott said on Wednesday during Healey’s sentencing for the felony crime of forging U.S. currency in 2014.
“This is an almost paradigmatic story of what happens when people develop the disease of addiction,” Scott said, calling the crime “unsophisticated. It represents when the wheel falls off the wagon all together.”
Healey pleaded guilty to the forgery charge in November 2015, admitting that he and an accomplice, Ashley Bethel, 27, used a laptop computer, a scanner and a printer to create low-quality bills, according to an affidavit filed in September 2014. Police were tipped off to operation when a Breakwater Inn employee accepted a $10 bill for a beverage from Healey, realizing immediately it was fake.
[Man busted for bogus bills, spurs investigation]
“I don’t regret that (day) because after that day, after that time in jail, I’ve been clean and I’ve been sober,” Healey told Judge Philip Pallenberg before hearing his sentence. Healey talked about a his life before a divorce and separation from his children that he said led him to drugs, the life of a valedictorian who obtained a high-paying job as an auditor for the state. Before he stepped up to forgery, Healey was stealing checks and credit cards from his sister in 2007, signs that he was losing a battle with an addiction, Scott said.
In theory, Scott said Healey could have faced federal charges for forging U.S. currency, but the federal government doesn’t typically show interest in pursing such crude attempts at forgery. In all his time spent in Southeast Alaska, Scott said he’s never seen anyone commit forgery of currency in a convincing matter, and Healey’s case was no exception.
Judge Pallenberg sentenced Healey on Wednesday to serve three years with half of that time suspended, and he also recommended the Department of Corrections allow Healey serve his time through the electronic (ankle) monitoring system. That decision is up to the DOC.
Healey’s sentencing was part of a plea deal agreed upon in November 2015. The judge, prosecutor and Assistant Public Defender Eve Soutiere all expressed confidence in Healey’s future after achieving sobriety and also because of his willingness early on to work with authorities.
“Mr. Healey has done so much (better while out on bail) than I anticipated. I think he’s in a very good spot; I hope I’m right about that,” Scott said.
In an unrelated driving under the influence misdemeanor charge stemming from an incident on Sept. 14, 2014, due to what the defense said was a misunderstanding about driving under certain medications, Pallenberg sentenced Healey to 10 days in jail, all suspended because of time already served.
Healey’s alleged accomplice in the forgery case, Bethel, although also charged with a felony for forgery of U.S. materials, only pleaded guilty to two lesser charges, class A theft misdemeanors in September 2015. Her forgery charged was dismissed by the state.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
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