HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A former Stamford United States Postal Services (USPS) employee was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release Tuesday for mail theft and fraud offenses, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut said.
Around November 2021, Blount opened a bank account using the name and social security number of a person without their knowledge. Blount and others fraudulently changed the payee names on the stolen checks to the name of the identity theft victim, forged the signature on the back of the checks, and deposited them into the bank account.
Between Nov, 2021 and when the account was closed in April 2022, Blount and others deposited approximately $156,000 in fraudulent checks into the account. Blount and others took approximately $81,000 for personal use and other deposits were rejected by the bank.
On June 20, 2023, investigators conducted a court-authorized search of Blount’s Stamford home and seized a significant amount of stolen mail and other items tied to the scheme, including debit cards with other people’s names, documents of personal information, and checks totaling over $285,000.
