A Cook county man has been sentenced for his involvement in a mail theft and bank fraud scheme targeted at collection boxes in Carbondale.
The U.S. attorney reports 25-year-old Brian Nevils of South Holland pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of mail theft. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
One co-conspirator, 25-year-old Quentin Abrams of Charleston, was sentenced to time served in April after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of mail theft.
The other co-conspirator, 30-year-old Isaiah Jordan of Urbana, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced at the federal courthouse in Benton on October 1.
30-year-old Demarius Flakes of Blue Island was also charged in the indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of mail theft, six counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was recently apprehended in Chicago.
According to court documents, the defendants used a stolen master key to gain access to mail collection boxes throughout Carbondale. The conspiracy involved altering the recipients and amounts of stolen checks, depositing the checks into bank accounts of co-conspirators and then transferring the funds into their own accounts or of their associates.
Nevils, Jordan and Abrams stole and altered more than 100 checks sent by more than 50 individuals through USPS from March through July 2020. The total estimated loss exceeded $423,000.
In a separate case, a Metro East mail carrier has pleaded guilty to stealing from a collection box in Granite City.
The U.S. attorney reports 37-year-old Phillip Tucker of Madison admitted to stealing a Visa gift card from a collection box in Granite City on May 6, 2023. He admitted to using the gift card on several occasions for personal purchases.
Theft of mail by postal employee convictions are punishable by up to 5 years’ in prison.
Tucker is scheduled for sentencing at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis on December 18.
