CHARLOTTE — A 29-year-old Charlotte man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison after stealing mail from more than 540 victims, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
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Daron Quashawn 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 from hundreds of victims between November 2019 and February 2021, according to court documents.
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 victims lost more than $172,400 in the scheme, according to court documents.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg police caught Walker in the act on March 3, 2020, at a Charlotte apartment complex.
Law enforcement seized a crowbar and multiple bags of mail next to the mailboxes that were broken into.
There was also a cargo van and another vehicle filled with mail from at least two other mail thefts.
Investigators were led to Wright and Gilliland, who were staying at an area hotel, court documents showed.
The room was filled with stolen mail, which was seized.
Wright and Walker pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail theft.
Gilliland pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
Walker and Gilliland were sentenced to time served.
Wright will be under supervised release after he gets out of prison.
(Watch the video below: Mail theft ring targeted apartment complexes, police say)
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