Leader of coupon counterfeiting ring pleads guilty

Remember the enormous counterfeit coupon ring busted in Phoenix last year? The ringleader pled guilty and the women involved must pay back $5 million in restitution to the companies that were defrauded.

From Phoenix’s ABC 15:

The last of three women charged in a coupon counterfeiting case has pleaded guilty, according to Phoenix police.

Robin Ramirez pleaded guilty on February 25 to counterfeiting and faces a sentence of nine months to two years in jail and supervised probation. Ramirez would also be required to pay some sort of restitution to the victims.

While she pled guilty last month, that information was just released to the media this week.

Coupons In The News has additional info:

Tens of millions of dollars worth of counterfeit coupons are out of circulation, and now, so is the woman charged with running the whole operation. 41-year-old Robin Ramirez, who was set to stand trial for operating a multi-million dollar counterfeit coupon ring in Phoenix, has changed her pleas to guilty, on charges of counterfeiting, fraud and illegal control of an enterprise. One additional charge of forgery has been dropped.

This development comes several months after Ramirez’s two co-defendants changed their own pleas. 43-year-old Amiko Fountain and 54-year-old Marilyn Johnson faced felony charges of forgery, fraud and counterfeiting. Under separate plea agreements reached in November, they each agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of counterfeiting. They also, notably, agreed to testify against Ramirez in her upcoming trial.

Court documents reviewed by Coupons in the News show that Ramirez’s plea agreement was accepted by the court on February 25. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of between 9 months and two years on the counterfeiting charge, and supervised probation on the other charges. Fountain and Johnson face sentences of six to 18 months. All have been ordered to pay restitution “to any and all persons and businesses associated with this case, for any and all losses incurred… in an amount not to exceed $5 million.”

At the time of the women’s arrests, police revealed that Ramirez had a dozen different bank accounts, and just one of those accounts showed that she had earned $2 million over the past year. Proceeds from all the sales apparently went toward things like cars, weapons and a speedboat, all of which police seized. Records indicated Ramirez had allegedly been selling coupons since at least 2007, so the $40 million worth that was seized was just the tip of the iceberg.

Previous articles about the Phoenix coupon counterfeiting ring: