Source: United States Department of Justice News
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. ordered Daron Quashawn Wright, 29, of Charlotte, to serve 30 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for mail theft, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
U.S. Attorney King is joined in making today’s announcement by Tommy D. Coke, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which oversees Charlotte, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.
According to filed documents and information presented in court, between November 2019 and February 2021, Wright and two co-conspirators, Shermar Isaiah Walker and Haleem Gilliland, targeted apartment complexes in Charlotte and in other states in the Southeast and stole the mail of more than 540 victims. Court records show that the defendants generally used a crowbar to break into clusters of mailboxes located at apartment complexes, and stole hundreds of pieces of mail, including individual and business checks, credit cards, and packages. The estimated loss the victims incurred as a result of the mail theft scheme is over $172,400.
According to court records, on March 3, 2020, CMPD received a 911 call regarding a break-in in progress of the mailboxes at an apartment complex in Charlotte. Officers responding to the call identified Walker as the mail thief and Walker was arrested in connection with the incident. At the time of the arrest, law enforcement also located a crowbar and multiple bags of mail sitting by the mailboxes that had been broken into. Law enforcement also found at the same location a cargo van and another vehicle, both filled with mail from at least two other mail thefts. Court records show that the investigation led to Wright and Gilliland, who were staying at an area hotel. When law enforcement entered the hotel room, they observed it was filled with stolen mail. Law enforcement retrieved from the hotel room hundreds of additional pieces of stolen mail, including credit and debit cards, business and vendor payments, and other mail.
Wright and Walker pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail theft, and Gilliland pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Walker and Gilliland were sentenced to time-served.
In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked USPIS and CMPD for their investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.