Illinois Man Admits Bank Fraud Conspiracy Involving Checks Stolen from the Mail

ST. LOUIS - An Illinois man on Wednesday admitted engaging in a conspiracy to steal checks from the mail and deposit them into fraudulently-opened bank accounts.

Isaiah W. Douglas, 24, of Champaign, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of possession of stolen mail matter. He admitted conspiring with others to deposit checks that had been stolen from the mail by opening unauthorized bank accounts in the names of the businesses that were listed as payees on the checks. Douglas admitted that he and his co-conspirators intended to cause a loss of at least $581,123, based on the value of stolen checks deposited into unauthorized business accounts and the stolen checks recovered by police.

Luis A. Franco-Gonzalez, 26, of Rantoul, Ill., and Isaiah B. Handford, 28, pleaded guilty on May 20 to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.

Douglas' plea agreement says that he and others stole checks, or caused them to be stolen, from collection boxes in and around St. Louis. Douglas then offered money to Handford and Franco-Gonzalez to fraudulently open bank accounts and supplied them with false business documents to do so. On June 12, 2023, Handford entered a St. Louis bank and applied to open a business bank account in the name of one of the victim businesses by falsely claiming that he was an owner and registered agent of the business. Suspicious bank officials refused to open an account. That same day, Franco-Gonzalez was successful in opening an account at a different bank in Chesterfield and depositing a $312,677 check.

The following day, Handford and Franco-Gonzalez tried to open an account at a bank in Creve Coeur. Franco-Gonzalez entered the bank while Handford waited in the parking lot in the getaway vehicle, a tan Mercedes sedan. The bank refused to open an account for Franco-Gonzalez and he fled the bank on foot. Police spotted the Mercedes nearby and arrested Handford. Officers went to a nearby Drury Hotel, saw Franco-Gonzalez in a white Ford Explorer in the parking lot and arrested him. The Explorer contained a handgun and fraudulent paperwork in the name of one of the victims. Officers encountered Douglas at the hotel, carrying a backpack and a duffel bag that contained more fraudulent paperwork, a handgun and 53 loose checks, money orders, and envelopes that had been stolen from collection boxes. In hotel rooms used by the conspirators, police found more stolen mail and an additional stolen check.

All three are scheduled to be sentenced on September 2.

The Creve Coeur Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.