GREENBELT, Maryland — Federal charges have been brought against five individuals in Maryland for allegedly stealing more than 600 cheques totaling at least $5 million from the mail. On Monday, a federal jury returned an indictment accusing the five defendants of conspiring to conduct bank and mail fraud as well as other related offenses about the purported fraud scheme.
On December 7, 2023, the indictment was returned, and on January 19, 2024, it was finally opened.
Indicted in the indictment are:
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- 23-year-old Tianna Cosby, also known as “Mendoza,” lived in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
- 26-year-old Marche Sisco from Suitland, Maryland
- Tommi Cosby, of District Heights, Maryland, was 21 years old.
- Biniah Carter, an Upper Marlboro, Maryland, 24-year-old
- Bowie, Maryland’s Zion Oluwademilade Adeduwon, 22,
- Tianna Cosby and Biniah Carter, according to investigators, were taken into custody on January 19 and had their initial court appearances before the judge on Monday.
Zion Oluwademilade Adeduwon, Tommi Cosby, and Marche Sisco have not yet been found by the police.
The eighteen-count indictment claims that Tianna Cosby and Sisco pilfered company and personal checks that were sent via the USPS. The indictment specifically claims that Sisco stole checks from the Washington Network Distribution Center (NDC) while working as a USPS mail-handling assistant there. She then allegedly spoke with Cosby about the sale and distribution of over 600 stolen checks. The face value of these checks exceeded five million dollars. The indictment claims that the conspiracy not only stole checks from the NDC but also obtained checks by pilfering them from USPS collection boxes.
The indictment also claims that Tianna Cosby, Tommi Cosby, Carter, and Adeduwon hired “account mules,” or people whose bank accounts are used to deposit checks that were obtained unlawfully and the scheme’s revenues. Next, the conspirators gathered and disseminated identifying and banking information through account mule data. At least five victims of identity theft are said to have had their means of identification utilized and transferred by the suspects. According to the indictment, the conspirators changed the stolen checks to appear as though they had been paid to account mules. They then placed the fake checks into the account mules’ bank accounts and carried out various financial operations, such as ATM withdrawals and account transfers, to get the money.
For each crime of bank fraud and for conspiring to commit mail and bank fraud, each suspect faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if found guilty. In addition, each count of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year sentence that runs concurrently with any other punishment.
The sentence will be decided by a judge in a federal district court.