Conspirator in Identity Theft Scheme Sentenced
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Alvin Leroy Spencer, age 30, of District Heights, Maryland, today to four years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Williams also ordered Spencer to pay $165,371.45 in restitution and to forfeit jewelry seized by law enforcement.
According to his plea agreement, from March to December 2006, co-conspirator Carl Smith obtained from another conspirator checks that were stolen from the mail at the Upper Marlboro post office. Smith manufactured and provided to Spencer fraudulent driver’s licenses and other identification in the name of payees listed on the stolen checks, but bearing the conspirators’ photographs, including Spencer’s. Smith also used the stolen checks to produce counterfeit checks. Spencer cashed the stolen and counterfeit checks at banks using the fraudulently produced identification and gave the proceeds to Smith.
By December 2006, the Upper Marlboro post office received numerous complaints from individuals that mail had been stolen and stolen checks had been fraudulently cashed. One of the conspirators was arrested in December 2006 for stealing checks from the mail at the post office.
The conspirators withdrew a total of $164,723 from at least seven victim banks as a result of this scheme.
Judge Williams sentenced Carl Jack Smith, age 41, of Clinton, Maryland, to 75 months in prison for the same offenses. Judge Williams also ordered Smith to pay $165,371.45 in restitution, and to forfeit $66,709 and jewelry seized by law enforcement.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Postal Service - Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Mara B. Zusman and Stacy Dawson Belf, who prosecuted the case.
