A Los Angeles County man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his role in a scheme that involved forging and depositing over $1.2 million in fraudulent money orders.
Sterlyn Lee Smith Jr., 49, of Lancaster, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay over $432,000 in restitution.
From July 2013 to February 2019, Smith and multiple accomplices altered money orders purchased at U.S. Post Offices in California and Nevada, inflating their values before depositing them into bank accounts under other people’s names, according to the United States Department of Justice.
The group would then withdraw funds before banks could detect the forgeries, officials said.
In total, Smith and his co-conspirators deposited or attempted to deposit more than 1,200 forged money orders. Smith eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud, one for each bank he defrauded.
“This case highlights the importance of investigating and prosecuting financial fraud that targets banking institutions and the public,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami for the District of Nevada.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the official law enforcement agency of the Postal Service.
Anyone who suspects mail fraud is urged to report it by calling the USPS Fraud Complaint Hotline at 1-800-372-8347 or visiting www.usps.com/postalinspectors.
