Man caught with stolen mail and USPS key helped steal thousands from banks, feds say
A man involved in a scheme that defrauded banks of nearly $275,000 using checks stolen from the mail later took part in a second, similar scheme after federal prosecutors said he was criminally charged, according to officials.
Dezhon McCrae, who used to live in Salem County, New Jersey, helped steal more than $10,000 from banks from May 2018 through February 2020, prosecutors said.
Then — while facing one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud — McCrae went on to help steal more than $14,000 from a different bank in a similar, second scheme from May 2022 to July 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
A year later, as the criminal case against McCrae was still pending, police officers found stolen mail and a U.S. Postal Service key inside McCrae’s home in Paulk County, Georgia, in August 2023, prosecutors said. At the time, officers were investigating his home in connection with a reported shooting, according to officials.
Now McCrae, 25, has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, possession of a stolen postal key, possession of stolen mail, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in an Oct. 4 news release.
His defense attorney didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Oct 7.
How the schemes worked
In the first scheme that caused banks to lose more than $274,000, McCrae belonged to a “card cracking conspiracy” in which other people he worked with created counterfeit checks with information from stolen checks, according to prosecutors.
The fake checks had the same routing and account numbers as the real stolen checks that came from the mail and “other sources,” prosecutors said.
Those involved in the scheme recruited people online and deposited the fake checks into their bank accounts, according to prosecutors.
Then McCrae’s “conspirators transferred as much money as possible out of the accounts before the banks discovered that the deposits were fraudulent,” prosecutors said.
Three people were sentenced in connection with the scheme, according to prosecutors.
Before McCrae pleaded guilty, three others entered guilty pleas and will be sentenced, prosecutors said.
McCrae then involved himself in “a second scheme to commit bank fraud,” after the first scheme, according to prosecutors.
The next year, on Aug. 18, 2023, when local authorities found stolen mail and a stolen postal key at McCrae’s home in Georgia, they obtained a warrant and searched his phone, prosecutors said.
Investigators found evidence on McCrae’s phone that showed he used a stolen identity to create a fake New Jersey driver’s license — and that he was involved in plans to rob two mail carriers in Cumberland County, New Jersey, to steal their postal keys, according to prosecutors.
McCrae’s phone revealed that he mailed the fake ID — with a real person’s name on it and a photo of his “conspirator” — to “conspirators” in Camden, New Jersey, prosecutors said.
On July 3, 2023, a conspirator tried to use the ID to try to cash a stolen check at a New Jersey bank but fled when bank employees suspected fraud, according to prosecutors.
That same day, the second robbery plan that McCrae is accused of taking part in failed, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, a masked person attacked a mail carrier, hit him and sprayed him with bear repellent. However, they weren’t able to steal his postal mailbox key, prosecutors said.
The first robbery plan that McCrae had a role in happened about a month earlier, in June 2023, and succeeded, according to prosecutors.
Similar to the second attack, a masked person assaulted a mail carrier and stole their postal key, prosecutors said.
McCrae’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 6, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published October 7, 2024 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Man caught with stolen mail and USPS key helped steal thousands from banks, feds say."
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