Four residents of the St. Louis area, one a former mail carrier, have received prison sentences for running a check fraud operation utilizing checks stolen directly from the mail, as per an announcement from U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. The group’s conspiracy, which spread from January 2022 until September 2023, ended with all members ordered to pay restitution totaling $44,135.
According to details from a U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri, the key to USPS collection boxes was purchased by Johnathan Barnett from former carrier Wynter Hinton, enabling him and accomplices Ryan McKinney and Jayden Burklow to steal mail across St. Louis County. The alteration of the stolen checks and the usage of accomplice’s bank accounts to deposit them was, their strategy to siphon funds before banks could flag the transactions as fraudulent.
During the sentencing, Hinton received a 12-month prison term handed down on August 5 by U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp. McKinney received his 28-month sentence on July 17, Burklow got 57 months in June, and Barnett, the operation’s ringleader, was given an 80-month sentence in April. They attempted to defraud at least $800,000 through their scheme, although ultimately caught as they stretched the bounds of greed…