A Volusia County judge sentenced 51-year-old Jeffrey Hirschkorn to 20 years in prison Friday, closing out a case that began when he overpaid for a vehicle at a Daytona Beach dealership in September 2024 and then used the dealership's own banking information against it. Circuit Judge Christian Miller imposed the sentence after Hirschkorn had already entered no-contest pleas in May to charges including organized scheme to defraud, uttering a forgery, and fraudulent use of personal identification information.
According to the State Attorney, Florida's 7th Circuit, Hirschkorn received a refund check from the dealership that contained its checking account information, then used those details to make several internet payments, including more than $13,000 sent to the Orange County Tax Collector. Prosecutors also say he counterfeited a check made out in his own father's name as part of the scheme. Assistant State Attorney Alexis Gardner prosecuted the case for the State of Florida.
A Familiar Face for Volusia Investigators
The Volusia Sheriff's Office investigated the case, and it was far from the agency's first encounter with Hirschkorn. Before his arrest in May 2025, he had already amassed 74 felony charges, 30 convictions, and five prior state prison stints in Florida, according to FOX 35 Orlando. Law enforcement officials described him as a career scam artist who routinely reoffended after being released, the station reported.
When dealership representatives contacted him last year to collect thousands of dollars owed from his check-overpayment scheme, Hirschkorn taunted them with the phrase “Catch Me If You Can,” per the same account. That line quickly became a fixture in law enforcement's public statements about the case. Detectives ultimately tracked him into the Orlando metro area, and with help from the Orlando Police Department, arrested him less than 12 hours after securing a warrant.
Lawsuits and Bar Complaints Piled Up Before Sentencing
Hirschkorn didn't go quietly after his arrest. In May 2025, he filed a defamation lawsuit against the Volusia Sheriff's Office and its lead fraud detective, claiming the agency had slandered him by posting his mugshot and 74 prior felony charges on social media. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood publicly dismissed the suit as frivolous at the time.
Separately, The Florida Bar petitioned the Supreme Court of Florida in March to approve a permanent injunction against Hirschkorn after he signed a stipulation agreeing to stop engaging in the unlicensed practice of law, according to court filings from the Supreme Court of Florida. The action came from the court's Standing Committee on Unlicensed Practice of Law, and it landed just months before his criminal plea.
Hirschkorn's history of financial fraud stretches back well over a decade. In July 2010, he was arrested on 22 felony counts in Seminole and Orange counties for running vacation booking scams known as Peabody Vacations and Global Vacations, according to WFTV. Victims in that case alleged he stole customer credit card numbers and wrote bad checks totaling more than $1 million over the course of his lifetime, the outlet reported.
What the Charges Carry Under Florida Law
Hirschkorn's organized scheme to defraud charge falls under Florida Statute § 817.034, which classifies fraud involving property worth $50,000 or more as a first-degree felony carrying up to 30 years in prison, while schemes between $20,000 and $50,000 are second-degree felonies carrying up to 15 years. His uttering a forgery charge falls under Florida Statute § 831.02, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine per count.
After the sentencing, Sheriff Chitwood said Hirschkorn will have to file his next frivolous lawsuit from prison, referencing the 20-year sentence handed down by Judge Miller. The sheriff also noted that a defendant with 74 prior felonies should not have remained free long enough to taunt his victims. Jail records show Hirschkorn was booked into the Volusia County jail on the day of sentencing and held without bond ahead of his transfer to the Florida Department of Corrections.
The case fits a pattern local authorities have flagged repeatedly in recent months, from a fake-deputy bitcoin scheme that hit a Georgia woman in Volusia County to a duo accused of bilking a Deltona senior out of thousands. Hirschkorn's sentencing marks one of the harsher outcomes in that string of fraud cases moving through Volusia County courts.
