Last of 12 Co-Conspirators to be Sentenced in Scheme Using Phony Driver’s Licenses to Cash Stolen Checks

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Leonard Jenkins, age 27, of Baltimore, today to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for mail fraud, theft of mail and aggravated identity theft arising from the use of his position as a letter carrier to steal U.S. treasury checks. Judge Blake issued an order of restitution of $104,446,the amount of checks stolen.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Postal Inspector in Charge Daniel S. Cortez of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division; Special Agent in Charge Joanne Yarbrough of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General; Special Agent in Charge Barbara Golden of the U.S. Secret Service – Baltimore Field Office; John Phillips, Acting Assistant Inspector General for
Investigations, U.S. Department of the Treasury – Office of Inspector General;Charles Willoughby, Inspector General, District of Columbia – Office of the Inspector General; and Special Agent in Charge Kathryn Jones, U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Washington Regional Office.

According to Jenkins’s plea agreement, Jenkins was a letter carrier at the Druid Station post office in Maryland. From March 2006 to May 2007, Jenkins stole treasury checks that were to be delivered to recipients on his route and other carriers’ routes. In exchange for cash payments, Jenkins gave over $100,000 of the stolen checks to his conspirators, knowing that they would use fake identification documents to cash those checks at local check cashing establishments by posing as the intended recipients of the checks.

Twelve defendants have been convicted for their participation in this scheme and sentenced from two years to 75 months in prison. More than 50 individuals and businesses were victims of the scheme.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the United States Attorneys Office of the District of Columbia for their assistance in the case and praised Assistant United States Attorneys Tamera L. Fine and Emily Glatfelter, who prosecuted the case.