Sleuths with the US Postal Service claim that a Brooklyn man forged checks and impersonated a 90-year-old Staten Island resident in a scheme to defraud the federal mail carrier.
“As today’s arrest demonstrates, if you steal from the U.S. Postal Service, Postal Inspectors will find you and bring you to justice for your crimes,” said USPS Inspector Philip Bartlett.
The 29-year-old suspect allegedly created a fake New York State driver’s license bearing the Staten Island resident’s name, age, address, and date of birth, before using his stolen identity to cash bogus money orders at post offices located throughout New York and New Jersey.
Before depositing the checks, the suspect allegedly deposited the money orders via a check-cashing app, allowing him to retain the document, which he altered before depositing it a second time at the post office.
Fabian Levy, A spokesman for the NY Attorney General Letitia James — whose office will be prosecuting the suspect — couldn’t say how much money the Brooklyn man was accused of stealing, but Bartlett claimed investigators with postal service have obtained overwhelming evidence of his alleged crimes.
“[The suspect] couldn’t have thought he would get away with this crime, when he left a trail of evidence leading right to his true identity and his front door,” Bartlett said.
The suspect was charged with Identity Theft in the First Degree, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the First and Second Degrees, and Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree in Richmound County Supreme Court, and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top charge.
