Third defendant sentenced to federal prison for theft of mail in Augusta

SAVANNAH, Georgia: A federal judge has ordered a third defendant to be confined in federal prison after conviction for mail theft.

The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall and announced by Margaret E. "Meg" Heap, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

Torrance Urban Miller, 49, of Miami, was sentenced to 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to Theft of Mail.

Millers' codefendants, Joshua Mister Holmes, 21, of Miami, and Coleshia Carter, 22, of East Point, Georgia, were previously sentenced after pleading guilty to Theft of Mail, Bank Fraud, and Aggravated Identity Theft.

There is no parole in the federal system.

As described in court documents and testimony, from January 2023 to January 2024, the defendants took part in a mail theft scheme in which they would steal mail from Augusta area U.S. postal receptacles looking for business checks. They would take the business checks they had stolen and create counterfeit checks which were then deposited into accomplices' accounts and withdraw the money.

"Closing this case out with a substantial prison sentence is a victory for the business victims in and around Augusta," said U.S. Attorney Heap. "The tireless efforts of all of the agencies involved should be commended."

The FBI, United States Postal Inspection Service and Richmond County Sheriff's Office investigated the cases, which were prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia First Assistant U.S. Attorney David H. Estes.