Defendant \faces up to 5 years in federal prison

U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that a contract mail courier, Awunor Jackson Ikechukwu, 46, pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Dallas, before the United States District Judge Jorge A. Solis  to an indictment charging him with one count of possession of stolen mail.  Ikechukwu, of Sachse, Texas, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Solis on October 25, 2006 and faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and restitution.

               
        In early April 2006,  PNC Bank advised the U.S. Postal Inspection Service of stolen and counterfeit checks coming from their lockbox operation located at 1200 Campbell Road in Richardson, Texas.  A lockbox operation is a mail processing facility located in and owned by the bank that sorts checks to be deposited into bank clients’ accounts, allowing the checks to be deposited in a more timely manner than the company itself delivering the checks to the bank.  It is also an authorized depository for U.S. mail.

        The stolen checks were from mail that was mis-sent or mis-delivered to the PNC lockbox operation and were to be returned to the U.S. Postal Service by a Telesis Courier Service.  The courier service picks up the checks from PNC and delivers them to the Dallas Main Post Office.  Awunor Jackson Ikechukwu was the Telesis courier that had this route. 

In documents filed in Court, Awunor Jackson Ikechukwu admitted that he picked up these checks and loaded them into his vehicle for delivery to the Dallas Main Post Office.  U.S. Postal Inspectors conducting surveillance observed Ikechukwu rifling through the mis-sent mail from PNC Bank and throwing various pieces of mail out of his vehicle.  A later search of Ikechukwu’s vehicle revealed approximately 19 checks hidden near the radio in the passenger section of his vehicle.  Ikechukwu admitted stealing the mail from the bag, including a letter addressed to El Paso Paper Box in El Paso, Texas, containing a check in the amount of $83,997.09.  In fact, nearly $500,000 in stolen checks was recovered.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul Macaluso.