NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Brooklyn man has been charged on a 243-count complaint for a large-scale postal theft operation after he was caught with a slew of stolen bank checks, credit and debit cards and driver’s licenses, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Wednesday.
Jamil Brown, 32, was arraigned on Tuesday on charges of criminal possession of stolen property, petit larceny and identity theft after a court-authorized search warrant revealed the goods in his Brooklyn home.
An investigation into Brown was prompted on or about Sept. 19 when a Laurelton, Queens resident tried to use her credit card, but the transaction was declined.
The victim reviewed her account statements and discovered several unauthorized charges. She also had not received an additional credit card she had applied for several days prior, which was in her husband’s name but on the same account.
Bank records showed that the second card was mailed to the victim’s address and activated on Sept. 19 with a telephone number connected to Brown, according to the charges and investigation.
After the fraudulent activation, Brown allegedly made six unauthorized charges at stores including a Party City in Queens, liquor store in Nassau County and a convenience store in the Bronx, prosecutors said. It soon declined over five times after he allegedly tried to use it at different restaurants and retailers in Brooklyn.
Video surveillance depicted Brown making the alleged fraudulent purchases, and location information provided by the court showed his cellphone was at the locations of said transactions.
This evidence led to the execution of the search warrant on the morning of Oct. 28. Brown was found in his home, alongside his girlfriend and co-defendant, Kadija Corke.
Eighty-nine credit cards, 88 debit cards, 11 public benefit cards, 18 driver’s licenses and over a dozen checks—made out to places like the St. Clare Catholic Academy in Laurelton, a small plumbing and heating business and several for Queens residents from the U.S. Treasury Department—were found. None belonged to Brown or Corke.
The sum of all the funds seized is estimated to be over $125,000, and $11,000 was also found at the residence in cash. Additionally, law enforcement recovered 15 cellphones, an embossing machine, a magnetic strip reader and encoding machine, printers and check-printing stock and other materials used to create false documents and cards.
“As alleged, the defendant orchestrated a large-scale mail theft operation, targeting innocent victims to pilfer their bank accounts, credit cards and public assistance funds in order to line his own pockets,” Katz said. “Identity theft is a serious crime that can have a lasting impact on a person’s credit rating, ability to buy property or even rent an apartment. We will not allow such activity to take hold in Queens.”
If convicted, Brown faces a potential maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison and is expected back in court on Nov. 19.
Corke, 31, was also arraigned on Tuesday on a 198-count complaint charging her with criminal possession of stolen property, prosecutors said.
She will return to court on Dec. 11, and if convicted of the top count, faces a potential maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.