13 Indicted for Stealing Treasury Checks from the Mail

Baltimore, Maryland - A federal grand jury indicted 13 conspirators in a scheme to steal treasury checks from the mail and cash the checks using false identity documents, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The indictment was returned on June 25, 2008 and unsealed today upon the arrests of the defendants.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “Criminals who use another person’s identity in a fraud scheme face a mandatory two years in prison in addition to their sentence for the underlying crime.”

“U. S. Postal Service employees are given a special trust to properly handle mail that comes into their possession. When even one postal employee violates that trust, it is a cause of concern for all customers. Our job is to make sure employees who betray that trust and steal mail, are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and have short postal careers," said Thomas Shipley, Special Agent in Charge of the Postal Service Inspector General's Washington office.

According to the 53 count indictment, from April 2006 to May, 2007 Leonard Jenkins, an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, stole U.S. treasury checks from the mail at the Druid Station post office where he worked in Baltimore, Maryland, and provided the stolen mail to other co-conspirators. Chamarkco Amin and Derrick Taylor manufactured and distributed false identification cards, such as driver’s licenses, bearing the conspirators’ own photographs, but the names and addresses of the victims whose mail had been stolen. By using the false identifications to pose as the victims in order to cash the stolen checks, the defendants are alleged to have fraudulently obtained over $100,000.

The defendants charged in the indictment are:

Morris Pinkett, III, age 32, of Baltimore;
Maurice Whitfield, a/k/a “David Johnson,” age 34, of Baltimore;
Atif Hakim Tate, a/k/a “Artis Jerome Tateberg,” age 35, of Bladensburg, Maryland;
Katasha Lynn Davis, age 37, of Baltimore;
Theodore R. Terrell, age 29, of Washington, D.C.;
Jamal Kareem Snead, age 31, of Baltimore;
Michael Hawkins, a/k/a “Blue,” age 48, of Baltimore;
Leonard Jenkins, a/k/a “Woods,” age 26, of Baltimore;
Chamarkco Amin, a/k/a “Reginald M. Jackson,” age 36, of Temple Hills, Maryland;
Derrick Taylor, a/ka “Abdula Muhammad,” age 42, of Washington, D.C.;
David A. Cooley, a/k/a “Damon Bryant,” age 35, of Baltimore, Maryland;
Tandria L. Boyd, a/k/a “Puddy,” a/k/a “Tonya Boyd,” age 36, of Baltimore, Maryland; and
Jane Doe.

Each of the defendants faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud; 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for forging endorsements on treasury checks; and a mandatory two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, in addition to any other sentence imposed. Jenkins also faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for mail theft by a postal employee.

Boyd, Jenkins, Taylor and Cooley are scheduled to have their initial appearances in federal district court in Baltimore this afternoon. Terrell is currently in custody in the District of Columbia pending his transfer to Maryland. Amin remains at large and “Jane Doe” has not yet been identified. The remaining defendants previously had their initial appearances in federal district court in Baltimore.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Secret Service; and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Inspector General for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Tamera L. Fine and P. Michael Cunningham, who are prosecuting the case.