Investigative News Releases

ST. LOUIS – Four people, including a former U.S. Postal Service employee, have been sentenced for their role in a conspiracy that stole checks from the mail to commit bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced Tuesday. The four defendants received sentences of between 12 and 80 months in prison. All have been ordered to pay restitution of $44,135. U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp sentenced former U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Wynter Hinton to 12 months in prison on August 5.

HOUSTON – A 63-year-old Houston man has agreed to pay $2,053,515 to resolve allegations he submitted false claims to federally funded health care programs for the surgical implantation of neurostimulator electrodes, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

LOS ANGELES – A South Bay woman who formerly worked as a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service in Torrance pleaded guilty today to stealing checks and debit and credit cards from the mail then selling them to her accomplices for three years, using the illicitly obtained funds to take international trips and buy luxury goods, and then flaunting the cash on Instagram.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced to 46 months in prison for drug trafficking stemming from an investigation into multiple fentanyl overdoses. According to court documents, Rayvon Porter, 33, of Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl.

MIAMI – Three South Florida residents have been sentenced to federal prison for distributing methamphetamine, fentanyl and nitazenes, after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring to distribute fentanyl and N-Pyrrolidino Protonitazene. On July 30, Josue David Balaguer, 35, of Hollywood, Florida, was sentenced to 141 months in federal prison.