ST. LOUIS – A federal indictment accuses a St. Louis County man of depositing thousands of dollars’ worth of checks he allegedly stole from mail.
Prosecutors have charged Malik Jones, 26, of Berkeley, with three counts of bank fraud, one count of possession of stolen mail matter, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Authorities arrested Jones on Jan. 31 in Florida in connection with the crimes. He pleaded not guilty to federal charges on Wednesday.
The indictment alleges that Jones recruited other people to send information about their debit cards and banking situation to him, which he then used to deposit forged and fraudulent checks. Jones reportedly obtained these checks from mail stolen out of collection boxes and mailboxes in the St. Louis area.
Investigators say that Jones altered the amount payable on the checks and the payee’s name before depositing them. He then withdrew the money before the banks discovered that the checks, each written for thousands of dollars, were bogus.
The indictment claims that Jones paid kickbacks to the bank account holders and those who helped him deposit the fraudulent checks.
If convicted, Jones faces up to 30 years in prison or $1 million in fines on each bank fraud charge and additional years and fines for other offenses.
