NEW YORK WOMAN SENTENCED ON STOLEN CELL PHONES CONVICTION

St. Thomas, VI – United States Attorney Delia L. Smith announced today that Keyla Mateo of New York was sentenced to four years probation by Chief District Judge Robert A. Molloy on her conviction of conspiracy to transport stolen iPhones.

According to court documents, from May through July of 2018, Mateo and three co-conspirators stole and later transported iPhones from St. Thomas to Bronx, NY, where the phones were sold.  As part of the conspiracy, one of Mateo’s co-conspirators contacted cell phone carriers, including Sprint and AT&T, impersonating legitimate customers by adding cell phones to the legitimate customers’ accounts without their knowledge or consent. Mateo’s co-conspirators also arranged for the iPhones to be mailed to another member of the conspiracy to a post office box located in St. Thomas.  Mateo would then arrange for the stolen iPhones to be ship from St. Thomas to her address in New York.  After arriving in New York, the stolen iPhone were sold by Mateo. The criminal scheme involved a total of 59 stolen cell phones valued at approximately $1,000.00 each.  All defendants pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and Mateo’s co-conspirators are awaiting trial.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the U.S. Postal Service investigated this case and Assistant United States Attorney Evan Rikhye prosecuted the case.