Three individuals have been sentenced to a combined 16 years in federal prison for their roles in a mail theft and bank fraud scheme that spanned several years.
Cortez Venable, Ephraim Aung, and Brooke Bryan conspired to commit bank fraud using stolen financial documents, including checks and money orders, taken from U.S. Postal Service (USPS) collection boxes between October 2021 and April 2022.
The scheme involved the armed robbery of USPS letter carriers to obtain “arrow keys,” special keys used to open collection boxes. Venable and unknown accomplices robbed at least one postal worker, and Aung acted as a lookout during other robberies.
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Using the stolen keys, Venable and Aung stole mail from collection boxes in the Indianapolis area. They then used the stolen checks and money orders to create fraudulent checks or alter existing ones, using a scheme known as “card cracking.”
This involved recruiting individuals to deposit the fraudulent checks into their personal bank accounts, often through social media solicitations, and then withdrawing or transferring the funds before the banks discovered the checks were worthless.
Bryan also participated in the scheme by depositing stolen financial instruments into her own account.
A search of Venable’s car and home revealed stolen mail, arrow keys, over $70,000 in stolen checks, and four firearms. A search of Bryan and Aung’s shared apartment uncovered stolen checks, altered money orders, and equipment used to create fraudulent checks, along with multiple firearms.
The investigation was a joint effort involving the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana.
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