Feds: $250,000 In Mailed NJ Checks, Money Orders Stolen, Cashed By NYC Crew

More than $250,000 worth of checks and money orders were stolen from post office mailboxes in North Jersey by a group of thieves from the Bronx who quickly converted them to cash, federal authorities said.

Jerry DeMarco

12/15/2020 3:06 p.m.

Crew members operated for nearly 14 months, stealing checks and money orders from the mail, altering them, depositing them into bank accounts and withdrawing the proceeds before the victims discovered the fraud. U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Jose Lopez Blanco, 22, got them access to the mailboxes with a U.S. Postal Service master key, Carpenito said.

Law enforcement officers watched as Blanco used the key to steal mail from a collection box in Newark, the U.S. attorney said.

Bank surveillance video also shows captured crew members and accomplices conducting transactions from accounts they created specifically to withdraw the money, Carpenito said.

Charged with bank fraud conspiracy along with Blanco are Jesus Emilio Ruiz Ramirez, 21, Cori Mojica Caminero, 25, Marisol Gomez, 34, and Daury DeLeon, 24.

Blanco also was charged with mail theft and unlawful possession of a postal key.

Carpenito credited inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Newark Division, special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, police from Jersey City, Newark and Roselle Park, the NYPD’s Department of Investigation Office of the Inspector General and the New York City Housing Authority.

Handling the case for the government is Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason P. Garelick and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassye Cole of Carpenito’s Criminal Division in Newark.

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