Fayetteville Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Postage from Law Firm to File Fraudulent Claims

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A federal judge accepted a guilty plea today from a Fayetteville man who was charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States on Claims.

According to the Criminal Information, Casey Tyler Smith, 27, of Fayetteville, worked in Wilmington at a law firm identified in the Criminal Information as “B&S.”  In the course of his work at the law firm, Smith had access to the firm’s Pitney Bowes postal meter.

According to the Criminal Information, Smith accessed the firm’s postal meter and fraudulently generated thousands of dollars in postage on the firm’s postal account.  He and others then took the stolen postage to a post office where Smith filed fraudulent postal refund claims, alleging that the postage had been lost or stolen.  In fact, the postage was used to generate fraudulent proceeds for Smith.  The post office then provided refunds on the postage to Smith in the form of postal money orders, both in his own name and in the names of others.

The Criminal Information further alleges that Smith and others then took the postal money orders to banks to convert them into cash.

In total, Smith caused 113 fraudulent postal claims to be filed, resulting in more than $80,000 in losses to B&S. 

At sentencing, Smith faces up to 10 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release for committing the offense of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States on Claims.

Robert J. Higdon, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement.   The United States Postal Inspection Services handled the investigation of this case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Gilmore is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on our website. 

An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.