Check Fraudsters and Identity Thieves Sentenced in Federal Court

MOBILE, AL – Ten defendants were sentenced for their roles in an organized scheme to commit bank fraud and identity theft.

According to court documents, Jaden Travier Lollie, 24, of Bremerton, Washington, Ralph Tyrone Griffin, Jr., 21, of Mobile, and several codefendants committed widespread bank fraud and identity theft between November 2021 and March 2024. The scheme involved checks stolen from the U.S. mail, which the defendants later altered and deposited at various financial institutions. The fraudulent checks bore the personal identifying information of numerous victim businesses and individuals in the Mobile area and elsewhere. Lollie, Griffin, and their coconspirators used social media and other means to recruit individuals with accounts at various banks, who provided their account information, debit cards, and other support to further the scheme. Victims of the scheme suffered more than $49,000 in actual financial losses, and the scheme involved intended losses of more than $250,000.

On several occasions in the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024, bank surveillance video captured Griffin and his codefendants making dozens of fraudulent transactions involving counterfeited checks in the Mobile area. Agents executed numerous search warrants at residences associated with the defendants, seizing laptops, printers, cell phones, counterfeited and stolen checks, debit cards belonging to other people, and other evidence of the fraud scheme. Agents also obtained voluminous text messages and social media communications between and among Lollie, Griffin, and their codefendants discussing the scheme and recruiting others to take part in it. The evidence showed that Lollie, who based in the Seattle area, generated counterfeited checks that he sent to Griffin and others, who used them to victimize businesses and individuals in Mobile.

United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Lollie and Griffin to serve 42 months and 18 months in prison, respectively. In addition to their prison terms, Judge DuBose ordered Lollie and Griffin to serve five-year terms of supervised release upon their release from prison, during which time they will be subject to credit restrictions. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge DuBose ordered Lollie and Griffin to pay $49,201.30 in victim restitution jointly and severally with their codefendants, and a total of $200 in special assessments.

For their roles in the scheme, the court sentenced Lollie’s and Griffin’s codefendants as follows: Jhykez Labarron Adams, 20, who was arrested in possession of an illegal machinegun (57 months); Jamarion Ant’Jwan Licharles Adams, 23 (25 months); Tamarcus Santreal Napier, 24 (25 months); Noraa Loisann Bracy, 24 (25 months); Reginald Maurice Spencer, Jr., 25 (18 months); Khadijah Lashay Kimbrough, 23 (nine months); Jamaal Isiah Kidd, 22 (one day); and Kareer Dewayne Morris, 21 (time served). The court also ordered each of those defendants to serve supervised release terms and pay restitution and special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mobile Police Department, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Jackson Police Department, and the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.