Couple steals $1.9 million in checks from mail using postal master key, feds say
A judge sentenced 45-year-old Michael Wright to 12 years in prison and 36-year-old Cortney Young to two years following their guilty pleas in a mail theft scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced July 2.
McClatchy News reached out to their attorneys for comment July 3 but did not immediately receive a response.
Over the course of about a year, Wright used an illegally-obtained USPS arrow key, which acts as a master key for postal workers on their routes, to access mail boxes in Indiana, authorities said.
Law enforcement started getting reports of stolen mail, so they set up surveillance and said they saw Young drive Wright to USPS collection boxes in the middle of the night.
He was seen opening the boxes and rifling through the mail before getting back in the getaway car with his spoils, according to prosecutors.
Authorities said they pulled the couple over after one of these instances and found an arrow key in the vehicle and the stolen mail on the floorboard.
Investigators searched the couple's apartment in Princeton and reported finding hundreds of stolen checks totaling $1,857,461. Some were addressed to the Internal Revenue Service, authorities said.
During the search, law enforcement discovered evidence of other offenses.
'In Wright's backpack, investigators found 30 debit and credit cards bearing the names of other individuals, as well as a piece of notebook paper that had the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers for three other individuals written on it,' prosecutors said.
Law enforcement also found the couple each had a gun, while neither of them was allowed to have firearms because of their prior criminal convictions. The firearm on Wright's side of the bed was a ghost gun with no serial number, partially made with a 3D printer, prosecutors said.
Young's defense attorney asked for a lighter sentencing for the mom of five, saying she struggled with substance abuse and was coerced into participating in the scheme by Wright.
Wright pleaded guilty to mail theft, unlawful possession of a mail key, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, possession of ammunition by a felon and possession of a machine gun, according to prosecutors.
Records show Young pleaded guilty to mail theft and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Princeton is in southern Indiana, about a 30-mile drive north from Evansville.
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