NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SLATER MAN SENTENCED FOR CONSPIRACY

TO STEAL MAIL, IDENTITY THEFT

            JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Slater, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to steal mail, bank fraud and identity theft.

            Jacob Richard Roll, 33, of Slater, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey on Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, to 14 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Roll to pay $13,100 in restitution.

            On April 6, 2009, Roll and co-defendant Justine Elaine Gregory, 32, both pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to steal mail, bank fraud and identity theft. Roll also pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

            Gregory was sentenced on Feb. 11, 2010, to four years and three months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Gregory to pay $5,119 in restitution.

            The federal investigation began when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service learned that numerous state and local law enforcement agencies had been receiving mail theft and bank fraud complaints throughout the mid-Missouri area. In November and December 2007, Roll and Gregory conspired to steal mail from numerous victims in Saline, Pettis, Boone, Cooper, Howard, Platte, Jackson, Johnson, Montgomery, Callaway and Gasconade counties in Missouri, as well as residences in Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois and Oklahoma. They used stolen checks and credit and debit cards to make purchases, and used stolen identity information to create counterfeit checks.

            When Gregory attempted to use a stolen driver’s license to pass a counterfeit check at Ham’s Prairie Store in Callaway County, Mo., on Nov. 25, 2007, the store owner notified the Callaway County Sheriff’s Department of the attempted fraud and provided a description of the vehicle being driven by Roll. This vehicle had been stolen from a business in Readsville, Mo., earlier that day. Sheriff’s deputies located the vehicle and gave chase. One officer was injured when Roll rammed into the patrol car in order to escape.

            Roll and Gregory were arrested on Dec. 8, 2007, when a Noel, Mo., woman called the McDonald County Sheriff’s Department to report that she had witnessed them stealing mail from her mailbox. Law enforcement officers located and pursued Roll and Gregory in a stolen vehicle. They were taken into custody after the pursuit ended in a foot chase.

            Inside the stolen vehicle, law enforcement officers found stolen mail, a stolen Social Security card and driver’s license, counterfeit checks, a laptop computer and two printers, a counterfeit $100 bill, casino cards belonging to various individuals, approximately one gram of methamphetamine and a stolen Rossi .38-caliber revolver.

            Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Roll has prior felony convictions for first degree tampering, stealing, conspiracy, forgery, attempting to deliver a controlled substance to a correctional facility and four prior felony convictions for burglary.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the McDonald County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Callaway County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

http://www.justice.gov../index.html