Brooklyn Man Stole Coronavirus Stimulus Checks, Feds Say

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A criminal accusation against a Brooklyn man is a familiar crime with a coronavirus-era twist — stealing mail with more than $12,000 federal stimulus checks inside.

Feng Chen, 31, was arrested early Tuesday after NYPD officers spotted him rooting through mail at two different Brooklyn residential buildings, a federal criminal complaint states.

Mail bulged out of his pockets and turned out to contain federal stimulus checks and credit cards, according to the complaint and a release.

The checks — intended to help people out of work or impacted by the coronavirus outbreak — totaled more than $12,000, a release states.

“For many families, these stimulus checks are a lifeline in these difficult times and anyone who tries to cut that lifeline will face the full weight of the law,” said United States Attorney Richard P. Donoghue in a statement. “This Office will vigorously prosecute all those who seek to take advantage of the public health crisis."

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A complaint filed with the federal Eastern District of New York lays out what NYPD officers in an unmarked car in Sunset Park claim they saw Chen do early Tuesday.

One officer noticed Chen drop a mail envelope in the street, the complaint. The officer — a former financial services representative — recognized the envelope as one that would contain a credit card or check.

The officers watched Chen walk over to a closed medical office, rummage through a collection bin, and then amble over to a nearby building at look at mail, the complaint states.

Chen then walked to another residential building before he left carrying what looked like mail, according to the complaint. The officers approached him and found he had an open warrant on a criminal identify theft case, the complaint states.

They searched him.

"Between that search and an examination of the mail recovered from the sidewalk, the police found multiple checks, nine Economic Impact Payments ('EIP') from the United States Treasury Department, otherwise known as 'stimulus payments,' credit cards, opened envelopes and letters, all bearing different individuals' names and mailing addresses," the complaint states.

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