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Press Release
Fort Myers, Florida – Senior U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington today sentenced Devin Ryan Maresca (33, New Castle, PA) to three years in federal prison for mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $74,700, which were the proceeds of Maresca’s mail fraud scheme. Maresca was found guilty following a three-day trial on August 23, 2023.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, while living in Cape Coral, Florida, Maresca filed more than 2,200 fraudulent indemnity claims to the United States Postal Service (USPS) claiming that Priority Mail packages that he had mailed or received were damaged. Maresca fraudulently used his mother, father, and brother’s name to submit most of the claims. Further, Maresca forged his family members’ signatures on the backs of USPS claims checks to deposit them into a bank account he controlled. The checks were mailed to UPS Store private mailboxes and Pak-Mail Store mailboxes that Maresca had opened in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Punta Gorda.
Maresca’s fraud scheme caused the USPS to issue more than $100,000 in claims checks. Internet addresses, bank, and email records, along with USPS data, linked Maresca to the fraudulent claims. In December 2021, a United States Postal Inspector and USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agent interviewed Maresca at his home in Newcastle. During the interview, Maresca admitted to submitting more than 2,200 fraudulent claims and forging his family members’ signatures on USPS indemnity checks.
This case was investigated by the U. S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Postal Service-OIG. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Trent Reichling and Patrick Darcey.