U.S. Department
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Press Release
Press Release
Mail Thief and Counterfeitter Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina
Contact Person: Bill Watkins (864) 282-2100
Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Geoffrey R. Albertson, age 32, of Greenville, was sentenced in federal court in Anderson, for conspiracy to commit fraud, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. United States District Judge Timothy M. Cain of Anderson sentenced Albertson to 60 months imprisonment and ordered him to pay over $11,000 in restitution.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Albertson and others regularly stole mail from residential boxes, sorted the stolen mail for checks and personal identifying information, created altered or counterfeit checks, and then negotiated the checks throughout the upstate. Most of the fraud was conducted in an effort to obtain funds to purchase methamphetamine. Albertson was captured on multiple bank surveillance cameras when he negotiated the checks.
The case was investigated by agents of United States Postal Inspection Service and the Easley Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case.
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Updated May 5, 2016
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