Federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Thursday announced guilty pleas and prison sentences for five people connected to fraud schemes involving large checks stolen from the mail, including from a postal annex in Camden.
Juawan Reed, 30, of Sharon Hill, a former postal worker, pleaded guilty on July 15 to charges of conspiring to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, theft of public money, theft of U.S. mail, money laundering, and filing a false income-tax return, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazier said.
Reed stole checks from the mail while he worked at the U.S. Postal Service Camden Carrier Annex, prosecutors said.
Reed sold checks or provided them to two other conspirators who advertised some of the stolen checks on social media or resold them to others, prosecutors said.
In one 2022 example, Reed stole a $686,541.88 U.S. Treasury check payable to a business in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Reed then provided the check to a conspirator, Christopher Hayman, 30, of Philadelphia, who then posed as the CEO of the business to open a bank account. Hayman then withdrew a substantial portion of the money before the bank was able to detect the fraud and closed the account, prosecutors said.
Hayman pleaded guilty on July 14 conspiring to commit bank fraud, Frazier said.
Reed admitted that he created and used a stolen identity to open financial accounts, which he used to launder some of the fraud proceeds, prosecutors said. He also admitted that he failed to report on his tax returns “hundreds of thousands of dollars that he earned from his crimes,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Reed admitted that the bank fraud conspiracy caused more than $2.4 million in actual losses and was intended to fraudulently obtain more than $20 million, prosecutors said.
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Also as part of the fraud scheme, checks were stolen from blue mail collection boxes, and counterfeit version of stolen checks were created, and stolen checks were altered to increase their value, prosecutors said.
In a separate part of the conspiracy, fraudulent debit cards were created that led to more than $400,000 in actual losses for victims and intended losses exceeding $1.5 million.
On June 22, Tyree Holmes, 34, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud.
Kharon Parson-Wright, 28, of Marlton, was sentenced on June 22 to 57 months imprisonment, after previously pleading guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Yasmene Johnson, 29, of Marlton, was sentenced on May 12 to 57 months imprisonment after previously pleading guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Reed is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 17. Hayman is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 16, and Holmes on Oct. 27.
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