US Post Office in Old Greenwich
A man was sentenced in New Haven on Tuesday to 30 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for participating in two fraud schemes, including one that involved theft of postal money orders from the US Post office in Old Greenwich.
According to court documents and statements made in court, the first scheme involved the theft of postal money orders.
Marc Anthony Alexander, formerly of Stratford and Oxford, and his wife, Rachael Alexander, also known as Rachael Vierling, devised a scheme to steal blocks of blank postal money orders from the Post Office in Old Greenwich.
The Alexanders and others then imprinted the money orders with various denominations using a computer font designed to make them appear to be authentic.
The Alexanders recruited Bernard Harris, 33, of Bridgeport into the scheme to organize others to cash the money orders, or deposit them into numerous bank accounts, either at an ATM or at a teller window.
Mr. Harris recruited at least five individuals and paid them a portion of the proceeds.
He then turned the bulk of the money over to the Alexanders who compensated him by giving him additional money orders that he cashed and converted to his own use.
The loss from this scheme was $313,570.
Mr. Harris and the Alexanders were charged by indictment and arrested on April 26, 2016. On September 8, 2016, Harris pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
On December 30, 2016, while he was released on bond, Harris went to a Waterbury check cashing business and presented a $3,860 check that was allegedly issued by the Connecticut Dept of Children and Families.
In that incident, Harris provided his driver’s license as identification, and provided references, including the name of his federal pretrial services officer and his federal public defender.
He also cashed a second check from DCF.
On May 8, 2017, Harris pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud stemming from the fraudulent check scheme and was remanded into custody.
The Alexanders pleaded guilty to charges related to the postal money order scheme and a separate scheme that involved the fraudulent sale of financed vehicles.
On April 11, 2017, Marc Alexander was sentenced to 96 months of imprisonment. Rachael Alexander awaits sentencing.
The investigation has been conducted by Greenwich Police Department, CT Financial Crimes Task Force¸ US Postal Service Office of Inspector General, US Postal Inspection Service, US Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Westport Police Dept.
See also:
Three Charged in Old Greenwich Post Office Stolen Money Order Case