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# Federal Forgery, Counterfeiting, and Copyright Sentences in the Eastern District of Missouri, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-forgery-counter-copyright-sentences-eastern-district-of-missouri/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:36:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:36:09.000Z
- Description: All 46 people sentenced in the Eastern District of Missouri under the Commission's "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" offense type pleaded guilty, and 37 of them (80%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months, compared with 17.6 months for this offense type in all 94 federal districts.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Missouri, FY201](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-missouri/) › Forgery, Counterfeiting, and Copyright: Eastern District of Missouri

**In brief:** All 46 people sentenced in the Eastern District of Missouri under the Commission's "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" offense type pleaded guilty, and 37 of them (80%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months, compared with 17.6 months for this offense type in all 94 federal districts. Restitution was ordered for 30 people (65%).

Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 46 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. It is part of the [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea

The records list 46 of 46 people (100%) as having pleaded guilty. No one in this group was convicted after a trial, so the records have no trial sentences to compare with plea sentences.

Among the guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement. None was a straight plea with no agreement.

For all 94 districts together, guilty pleas were 98% for this offense type. For all offenses in this district, they were 99%.

## How Long Were the Prison Terms?

Of the 46 people, 37 (80%) were sent to prison, and 8 (17%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Nationwide, 77% of people sentenced for this offense type were sent to prison.

The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. The median for all 94 districts was 17.6 months, which is higher than the median here.

The median for all offenses in this district was 46 months. These cases carried much shorter terms than the district's cases as a whole. The Commission data reports terms imposed, not time served.

A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 46 people.

## What the Commission Means by This Offense Type

"Forgery/Counter/Copyright" is the Commission's own category. Each case is placed in it by the primary guideline that applied.

In this district, 43 people were sentenced under §2B5.1 (Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States). Another 3 were sentenced under §2B5.3 (Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark).

Cases of this type were less than 1% of the 9,425 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.

## Sentences Against the Guideline Range

The guideline range is the range the Commission's guidelines calculate for each case. It is a starting point, and judges can sentence outside it.

Within the range were 39% of the sentences (18). Below the range at the government's request were 20% (9), and below the range without a government request were 37% (17). Above the range were 4% (2).

Across all 94 districts, 47% of sentences for this offense type were within the range, and the figure for all offenses in this district was 42%.

## Restitution, Fines, Supervised Release, and Criminal History

Restitution was ordered for 30 people (65%), and a fine for 1 person (2%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 37 people (80%), with a median term of 24 months.

In criminal history, 33% were in the lowest category and 33% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Yearly Counts Are Small

Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 30 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 16\. The offense-type figures cover fiscal years 2016 to 2024, and the table lists only the years with sentenced people. The fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.

Several years had 2 people, so the yearly medians cannot show a trend.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 1                | 12 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2017        | 8                | 6.2 months    | 8 of 8         |
| 2018        | 8                | 15 months     | 8 of 8         |
| 2019        | 13               | 15 months     | 100%           |
| 2020        | 5                | 13.4 months   | 5 of 5         |
| 2022        | 7                | 16.5 months   | 7 of 7         |
| 2023        | 2                | 29 months     | 2 of 2         |
| 2024        | 2                | 10 months     | 2 of 2         |

## Limits of the Data

The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included.

It does not show the details of any case, so the numbers describe groups of sentences and not the reasons for them.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Missouri (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Missouri East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" (46). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.

Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30\. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.

### What to Keep in Mind

**No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct.** Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987\. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.

**Federal supervised release.** Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.

**Who decides the sentence, and under what rules.** Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.

**Time periods.** Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.

**How life sentences and "time served" are counted.** In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.

## Related Analysis

- [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Missouri, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-missouri/) (overview)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Missouri, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-eastern-district-of-missouri/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Missouri, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-eastern-district-of-missouri/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Missouri, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-eastern-district-of-missouri/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Child Pornography Sentences in the Eastern District of Missouri, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-child-pornography-sentences-eastern-district-of-missouri/) (same district, other offense type)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)

**About the author.** Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts *Where All The Bodies Are Buried* and runs the [Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.