Passing a fake $100 bill at a Roanoke Lowe's store brought an Eden, N.C., man eight months in prison today.

Donnell Elbert Corbett, 57, had pleaded guilty in May to a federal charge of passing counterfeit money. Two more charges were dropped in a plea agreement. Each was linked to passing a single counterfeit $100 note at the Lowe's on Rutgers Street Northwest on June 10 and 11, 2005. Corbett was a painter working for a company that painted Lowe's stores.

Today, with Corbett back in court for sentencing, his attorney, Allegra Black, noted his steady employment for the past six years and asked that he be given only probation. "This is a situation where Mr. Corbett was admittedly addicted to crack cocaine and succumbed to the temptation of easy money," Black said.

Corbett did not manufacture the false money and "was merely a pawn in this operation," she said.

Since his apprehension in 2005, Corbett has had clean drug screens and has cooperated with authorities, Black said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlene Day agreed that Corbett had cooperated and stayed out of trouble since the counterfeit money was tracked to him. But Day asked for the minimum sentence under federal guidelines that recommended eight to 14 months in prison and a fine of $500 to $5,000.

U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad said Corbett's prior criminal record ruled out a sentence of only probation.

Passing the $100 bills was "not the worst offense, but it's something someone with your record should have known to stay away from," he said. "Your criminal conduct has repeated itself on a number of occasions."

Conrad sentenced Corbett to eight months in prison and two years of supervision by federal probation officers afterwards. He waived a fine, but ordered Corbett to repay Lowe's $298.24.

Conrad told Corbett he would let him self-report to prison once his case has been processed, and warned him that future offenses were likely to bring a much longer sentence.

"You need to be law-abiding," Conrad said.