Police Say Sumlar Is A Dangerous Counterfeiter

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Sumlar's recent fake id.

Law enforcement sources tell AMW that Dante Sumlar is wanted by the U.S. Secret Service and three different police departments -- St John's and Nassau County Sheriff's Offices in Florida, and the Houston Texas Sheriff's Office -- and is under investigation by even more for his work as check counterfeiter, a profession that has netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in misgotten spoils.

He is also wanted for questioning for a 2006 homicide in Jacksonville, Fla. Police say this is a dangerous and wily man who has developed quite a reputation for taunting the authorities who pursue him.

Sumlar Says, "Have Lunch On Me"

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This is the most recent photo of Sumlar, taken by police in 2007.

Jacksonville, Fla. Police Detective Elizabeth Sutherland clearly remembers the day last year when she was eating lunch at a Red Lobster and received a crudely written note on the back of a receipt from a server.

It said, "Lunch on me, Dante Sumlar. Mrs. Sutherland, have a nice day."

Sutherland, who cops say works as a counterfeiter, instantly recognized the name. She had arrested him many times before, and she knew he was a wanted man.

Sumlar, though, had already left unseen after having an extravagant meal. He hadn't left any money with the server to actually buy Sutherland's lunch, knowing that a sworn officer couldn't accept the gift. He was just going out of his way to tease the police after more than two years on the run.

"He must have seen me come in," she says, "and instructed the server to wait until he was leaving to deliver the note."

It wasn't the last time he had taunted the police. He has even called up officers to turn himself in -- without keeping the appointment.

Cops Call Sumlar A Crafty Ringleader

In 2000, Sumlar was identified as a major ringleader of a counterfeiting scheme. Investigators say he and his cohorts would recruit from the down-and-out -- immigrant laborers, drug addicts, and the homeless -- to cash fake checks through parts of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Sometimes, cops say, Sumlar's group fooled the men into doing real labor, or had them wear fake uniforms, just to add the illusion of authenticity to the scam that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars. Other times, Sumlar threatened their lives to keep them in line.

Sumlar and six other individuals were caught and arrested, spending three years in prison. It was in prison, though, where he laid the groundwork for his next counterfeiting scheme. Investigators say he found a loophole in the way prisons credit inmate commissary accounts, which he plotted to exploit.

As soon as he was released, cops say, he started to recruit people to be arrested for small-time crimes in Florida county jails in order to deposit fake checks in their accounts. He was running this scheme until 2006, when he was caught apparently trying to cash a fake check. Authorities say he posted bail and fled before the totality of his schemes -- over $150,000 -- was revealed.

While on the run throughout the South, cops tell us Sumlar continues to run counterfeiting schemes. And in December 2006, cops say one of Dante's partners in Jacksonville, Fla. was gunned down. The last person he was supposed to be meeting with was Sumlar himself.

Authorities say Dante Sumlar has achieved an "almost Billy The Kid, cult-like status" while on the run, and they need your help to track this armed and dangerous criminal down.