Federal authorities have dismantled a bank fraud conspiracy that exploited stolen mail and altered checks to siphon funds from financial institutions.
Former postal worker Juawan Reed of Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to 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, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Meanwhile, co-conspirators and Philadelphia men Christopher Hayman and Tyree Holmes pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud.
Court documents show Reed admitted to stealing checks from the mail while working at the U.S. Postal Service Camden Carrier Annex. Authorities say some of the stolen checks were passed to Holmes and Dante Ford, who promoted them on social media and resold them to other people. Prosecutors say Reed also gave stolen checks directly to Holmes and others so they could fraudulently cash or deposit them.
In one case, Reed stole a United States Treasury check worth $686,541.88 in December 2022 and handed it over to Holmes. The check was payable to a business in Pennsauken, New Jersey.
Hayman pretended to be the CEO of the Pennsauken business and used that false identity to open a business bank account in the company’s name before depositing the stolen Treasury check and withdrawing a substantial amount of money. But the bank detected the fraud and shut down the account.
Reed also admitted that he created and used a stolen identity to open financial accounts, which he then used to launder some of the criminal proceeds.
In addition, Reed admitted that he failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal income on his tax returns.
Authorities say the bank fraud conspiracy caused more than $2.4 million in actual losses and was intended to cause more than $20 million in losses.
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