Ringleader of Mail Theft Conspiracy Sentenced to 9 Years for Using Credit Cards Stolen From the Mail

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Chicago has sentenced the ringleader of a mail and identity theft conspiracy to nine years in federal prison for stealing U.S. Postal Service (USPS) customer’s credit cards out of the mail and using their personal identifying information to make unauthorized purchases with the stolen cards.

DAVEY HINES, 30, of Naperville was indicted by a federal grand jury on 1 count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, 1 count of theft or receipt of stolen mail, 4 counts of unauthorized access device fraud, and 4 counts of aggravated identity theft in February 2021 for events which occurred between June 2018 and December 2019.  Hines was indicted alongside 10 other individuals involved in the scheme as the result of a multi-agency investigation dubbed “Operation Cash on Delivery.”  The investigation identified USPS employees who stole credit cards and other financial instruments and provided them to Hines and others in exchange for cash or other items of value.  Hines, who also recruited most of the USPS employees, then worked with his co-defendants to unlawfully obtain the USPS customers’ personal identifying information, including dates of birth and Social Security numbers, and fraudulently activate the stolen cards.  Over the course of the 19-month conspiracy, Hines and his co-conspirators stole more than 657 credit cards and made more than $462,719 in fraudulent purchases.

Hines plead guilty to 4 counts charging conspiracy, receipt of stolen mail, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft on July 8, 2022.  On April 3, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Edmond E. Chang sentenced Hines to 108 months in federal prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and ordered Hines pay restitution to the victim financial institutions that issued the stolen credit cards.  Hines committed the offenses while on court-supervised release following a prior federal conviction for bank fraud in 2015. 

The sentence is announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Ruth M. Mendonça, Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Scott Pierce, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Central Area Field Office; and Sean Fitzgerald, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of Homeland Security Investigations. The government was represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Madriñan and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paige Nutini and Kirsten Moran.