by Alex Lloyd Gross
US Attorney Jacqueline Romero announced that Zachkey James, 29, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by United States District Judge Judge R. Barclay Surrick to spend the next four years in prison.
Zachkey entered a guilty plea to 12 charges that he stole mail from collection boxes. Zackey managed to obtain a postal carrier uniform and then drove around Philadelphia to steal the mail that was in those boxes. He was using three stolen Arrow Keys to do this, Romero said.
He started this scheme in 2020 and continued until he was arrested in November 2022. He netted $345,681.68 and must forfeit that back to government as part of his sentence, Romero said.
He rifled through the stolen mail, pulling out checks and money orders, altered the payee name on these checks and money orders to be payable to himself and co-conspirators, and then either cashed the forged checks and money orders or deposited the forged checks and money orders into accounts controlled by himself and co-conspirators.
When Postal Inspectors executed a federal warrant to search his apartment and vehicle, they found piles of undelivered mail, hundreds of checks and money orders waiting to be forged, approximately 15 undelivered mail-in ballots (all of which were delivered to the appropriate county board of election in time to be counted), solvent and toothbrushes used to wash checks and money orders, multiple stolen Arrow Keys, and a USPS letter carrier uniform.
“These weren’t just pieces of paper that Zachkey James stole,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “These were people’s mortgage and utility payments, their loan payoffs, their child support checks — and for numerous victims, the repercussions of his thefts were devastating. My office and the USPIS will continue to investigate and prosecute these mail theft cases to hold the perpetrators fully accountable.”