CHARLOTTE, N.C.
U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced Jimmy Lee Williams, 48, of Charlotte to eight years and eight months in prison for masterminding a fraudulent check scheme resulted in the theft of $650,000 in postage stamps and other merchandise
Judge Whitney also ordered Williams to serve two years under court supervision following the prison term and to pay $646,993 to the U.S. Postal Service as restitution.
Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and one count of money laundering.
According to court evidence, this is what happened:
In two separate time periods between November 2010 to present, Williams used a network of 16 accomplices to defraud U.S. Post Offices and other businesses in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Court records show that Williams and/or his accomplices used counterfeit or fraudulent checks and fraudulent identification to purchase postage stamps, gift cards and other merchandise with a total face value of more than $650,000.
Williams used counterfeit checks and checks drawn on his own closed accounts and the bank accounts of accomplices he met in prison and through youth football leagues in the Concord, North Carolina area.
According to court records, Williams’ accomplices gave the stamps they obtained to Williams, who then sold them to an Internet company in California as well as a North Carolina pawn shop, typically for 50%-70% of the face value.
Williams recruited his accomplices from prison and wrote instructions on how to commit the charged postal fraud while serving a prison sentence for violating conditions of his supervised release from a previous federal conviction.
All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole, according to officials.