Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Lyndsey Rhea Markland (41, Panama City) to 12 months in federal prison for passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. The court also ordered Markland to pay restitution to the victims she defrauded. On June 8, 2023, Markland pleaded guilty to four counts of passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes.
According to court documents and public records, in 2022, Markland entered various businesses in Brevard, Clay, Duval, and Seminole counties and purchased gift cards, merchandise, and food using counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. Law enforcement subsequently determined that Markland and her co-defendant, Neal Evan Pollman (42, Panama City), were staying at a hotel in Palm Bay. In November 2022, the Palm Bay Police Department (PBPD) executed a search warrant at their hotel room and located Markland inside the room. Also located in the room was approximately $30,000 in counterfeit currency and a printer, along with other tools used by Pollman to manufacture counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. Shortly after the execution of the search warrant, the PBPD located Pollman in the vicinity of the hotel and arrested him. When the officers searched Pollman, they recovered various counterfeit Federal Reserve notes on him which were traced back to his manufacturing activities. During a subsequent forensic examination of Pollman’s cellphone, law enforcement located images of Federal Reserve notes that Pollman used to manufacture the counterfeit currency.
Pollman and Markland appeared in federal court on April 27, 2023, pursuant to a writ bringing them to Jacksonville from the Bay County Jail, where they were serving jail sentences for violating their state probation on multiple charges related to passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. The court ordered Pollman and Markland detained.
On September 25, 2023, U.S. District Judge Davis sentenced Pollman to 18 months in federal prison for manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. The court also ordered Pollman to pay restitution to the victims he defrauded.
This case was investigated by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Palm Bay Police Department, the Orange Park Police Department, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Secret Service – Jacksonville Field Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein.
