$5M Mail Theft Ring Victimized Hundreds Of SoCal Families: Taskforce

PASADENA, CA — Nearly 90 people face charges in a $5 million scheme to fraudulently cash checks stolen from the mail, authorities announced Friday. The massive scheme victimized more than 700 people who had their paychecks, birthday checks, and refunds stolen from the mail, according to State Attorney General Rob Bonta.

At a news conference in Los Angeles, authorities announced the arrests of 56 people across Southern California in connection with the scheme, and dozens more still face charges. As part of Operation Checks in the Mail, law enforcement fanned out across Southern California Thursday to serve 75 warrants, announced Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The scheme's masterminds were allegedly affiliated with criminal street gangs.

"The ringleaders and suspects involved in this scheme are reported members of two notorious L.A. County criminal street gangs," said Villanueva.

According to investigators with Los Angeles Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the scheme began in 2018, and it involved old-school methods to engage in identity theft and check fraud on a massive scale. Victims have been identified across Southern California.

The suspects "allegedly deposited altered checks stolen from the U.S. mail into numerous bank accounts," Carroll Harris, inspector in charge of the Los Angeles Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said.

"The suspects would swiftly withdraw the money before the financial institutions discovered the checks were forged," he said. "The masterminds behind this scheme would recruit individuals on social media to open bank accounts or utilize their own checking accounts to deposit the fraudulent checks and hide their identification."

Bonta said 769 people were victimized in the scheme that affected people in California, Nevada and Arizona. He said a total of 88 defendants were being charged in the case, for a total of 330 felony counts.

"These crimes leave a trail of victims," he said. "In this case it was 769 victims. Hundreds of families whose hard-earned money was brazenly stolen. We're talking about birthday checks from grandma, paychecks — hard-earned paychecks — from employers, stolen, never received. There needs to be accountability for these crimes, and there will be."

Operation "Checks in the Mail" included 16 teams from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and eight teams from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, in addition to teams from the Los Angeles Police Department, Bakersfield Police Department, Hermosa Beach Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals, California State Parole Agents, Los Angeles County Probation, Long Beach Police Department, and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services.

The suspects are facing charges including "aggravated white collar crime in excess of $500,000," "aggravated white collar crime in excess of $100,000," conspiracy to commit grand theft by false pretenses, forgery relating to an item exceeding $950, money laundering, and grand theft by false pretense.

The DOJ's Crime Unit has filed charges in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, according to Bonta's office.

The unit investigates and prosecutes large-scale, multi-jurisdictional criminal organizations, networks, and groups that perpetrate identity theft crimes, use an electronic device or network to facilitate a crime, or commit a crime targeting an electronic device, network, or intellectual property.

“The American public have an expectation when it comes to their mail,” said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale. “They expect it to be safe. Not tampered with. Not stolen. It’s the responsibility of the United States Postal Inspection Service to make sure the mail is secure. And when mail is stolen and checks are altered, as we saw in this case, Postal Inspectors are committed to ferreting out those responsible and bringing them to justice. The coordinated effort with our partner law enforcement agencies to dismantle this criminal enterprise is a perfect example of the way law enforcement is supposed to work.”

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.