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From January 2020 to March 2022, Baba Diakite, Nasir Johnson and others conspired to steal checks from the mail in communities across New Jersey, US Attorney Philip Sellinger said.
Diakite and his conspirators used misappropriated keys belonging to the U.S. Postal Service to access mail collection receptacles and steal envelopes that contained checks, Sellinger said.
After stealing the checks, Diakite and his conspirators sold them to third parties or deposited them, sometimes in altered form for higher amounts, into bank accounts, Sellinger said.
Diakite and others then defrauded the banks by withdrawing money from the bank accounts, Sellinger said. Diakite admitted he caused a loss of between $550,000 and $1.5 million, Sellinger said.
Johnson was previously sentence to four years in prison, Sellinger said.
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