Federal Forgery, Counterfeiting, and Copyright Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025
13 people were sentenced under the Sentencing Commission's "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" offense type in the Northern District of Oklahoma from fiscal year 2016 to 2024. Only 1 of them (8%) received a sentence inside the guideline range. 5 (38%) went to prison, with a median of 5 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY20 › Forgery, Counterfeiting, and Copyright: Northern District of Oklahoma
In brief: 13 people were sentenced under the Sentencing Commission's "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" offense type in the Northern District of Oklahoma from fiscal year 2016 to 2024. Only 1 of them (8%) received a sentence inside the guideline range. 5 (38%) went to prison, with a median of 5 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 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 series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Why So Few Sentences Were Inside the Range
Each case has a guideline range that the judge calculates. 1 of the 13 sentences (8%) was inside that range. 7 (54%) were below it without a government request, and 5 (38%) were below it at the government's request. None was above it.
Across all 94 districts, 47% of sentences in this offense type were inside the range. The figure for every offense type in this district was 45%.
What the Offense Type Contains
The category joins several kinds of cases. The primary guideline was §2B5.1 (Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States) for 7 people, and §2B5.3 (Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark) for 6.
Together these were less than 1% of the 3,400 people sentenced in the district across fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Prison and Probation
5 of the 13 people (38%) were sent to prison. 3 (23%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. In all districts, 77% of people in this offense type were sent to prison.
The median prison term for the 5 was 5 months. A quarter received 6 months or more, and a quarter received 1.5 months or less. For all districts the median was 17.6 months, and for all offenses in this district it was 37 months.
Guilty Pleas Only
Everyone in this group (13 of 13, or 100%) pleaded guilty, and every plea came with a written plea agreement. 0 were convicted after a trial. The guilty plea rate for all districts was 98%, and for every offense type in this district it was 97%.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 13.
Money Orders and Supervision
Restitution was ordered for 5 people (38%), and a fine for 4 (31%). Supervised release followed prison for 5 (38%), with a median term of 36 months. Supervised release is a period of court supervision that begins after the prison term ends.
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 54%. Category VI, the highest, applied to 8%.
The Yearly Table
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 have 6 people, and 2020 to 2025 have 7. The table has no row after 2024. At most 3 people appear in any year, and several medians read n/a. Counts like these describe a handful of cases in each year, and they cannot show a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 3 | 5 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2017 | 1 | 6 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2018 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2019 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2020 | 1 | 6 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2021 | 1 | 1.5 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2023 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2024 | 2 | 1 months | 2 of 2 |
What Is Missing
Acquittals and dismissals are not part of the Commission's data, since it covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Terms are those imposed, not those served.
The records also do not show the value of the counterfeit currency or the kind of copyright or trademark case, or why the sentences were below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Northern District of Oklahoma (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Oklahoma North") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" (13). 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.