NYC woman found with $8,700 in fake $100 bills sentenced to 18 months in prison

A New York woman who spent fake 100-dollar bills throughout New York state and beyond has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

U.S. Attorney William Hochul says 31-year-old Michele Sergeant of Queens was also ordered Friday to pay $44,700 in restitution after being convicted of possessing counterfeit bank notes.

Sergeant and a co-defendant were arrested in September 2013 after state troopers stopped their car for going 102 miles per hour on Interstate 390 in Steuben County. Troopers found $8,700 in fake hundreds inside the car.

Investigators determined Sergeant and co-defendant O'Neal Walker had passed counterfeit bills in New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan and Arkansas.

Walker received an 18-month sentence in August.