Michael Edwards, 31, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was sentenced on Oct. 7, 2026, to eight years in prison for leading a check fraud ring that stole more than 2,600 checks from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in its sentencing announcement that Judge John G. Koeltl also imposed three years of supervised release, forfeiture of $18,840,084.45 and restitution, in an amount the office did not state.

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How the checks were taken

From about January 2022 to July 2024, prosecutors say, Edwards and co-conspirators got hold of postal keys that opened collection boxes in wealthy Manhattan neighborhoods and took the checks inside. Co-conspirators then changed the payees on the checks and, in some cases, the amounts. Edwards directed others to recruit third parties who would supply their bank account information, and the altered checks were deposited into accounts in Connecticut, Florida, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

The office describes the victims only as Americans who rely on the mail. It names no individual senders.

Aggravated identity theft is one of the charges Edwards admitted, which means real people’s identities were part of the scheme. Names, addresses and phone numbers are the kind of personal details that data brokers and people-search sites list for sale, and Incogni sends removal requests to those sites for a person and keeps re-sending them. That covers the data a household can control. The collection box itself is out of any sender’s hands.

The Telegram sales and the totals

Edwards sold or posted stolen checks on a Telegram channel called “Only1Giela,” prosecutors say. After his arrest he allegedly posted about $32 million in stolen checks there. In August 2024, after being charged with new crimes while on pretrial release, he allegedly deleted the channel’s contents, which prosecutors called obstruction of justice.

The totals in the release are large. The ring’s stolen checks carried a total intended loss of more than $55 million, and more than $18 million was deposited into co-conspirators’ accounts. The forfeiture order of $18,840,084.45 is close to the amount deposited.

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said Edwards “criminally utilized the U.S. mail system to steal millions of dollars from Americans who rely on it,” and that the sentence is “indicative of the result awaiting those who breach the U.S. mail system.”

What Edwards admitted

Edwards pleaded guilty on Nov. 13, 2025, to four sets of charges: conspiracy to commit bank fraud; unlawful possession of a stolen postal key and conspiracy to possess one; stealing mail and conspiracy to steal mail; and aggravated identity theft.

His arrest came in July 2023, when New York City police officers caught him and a co-conspirator stealing mail. While fleeing in their getaway vehicle, the release says, they nearly struck an officer. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations and the New York City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jerry J. Fang and William K. Stone of the office’s General Crimes Unit prosecuted it.

Keeping checks out of the wrong hands

The sentencing announcement offers no safety advice, so the practical steps come from the Postal Inspection Service’s own mail theft guidance. It tells people to pick up mail promptly and not to leave letters and packages in a mailbox or at the door for long, to use the Postal Service’s Hold Mail service when away, and to avoid sending cash. If an expected check, credit card or other valuable item does not arrive, the guidance says to contact the sender as soon as possible.

The same page says mail theft can be reported to the inspectors online at uspis.gov/report or by phone at 1-877-876-2455. A note of the check number, the amount, the date mailed and who it was addressed to makes that report, and any call to a bank, much quicker. The page does not cover collection boxes or what to do after a check is stolen, so a bank is the next call when a mailed check goes missing.

People who mail checks regularly, such as for rent, taxes or bills, can also watch their account activity for a check that clears to a name they do not recognize. The ring in this case changed payees, so the name on the cleared check, not only the amount, is worth a look.

Identity theft counts in a 2,600-check case

Edwards admitted aggravated identity theft among his charges, and the ring moved more than $18 million in altered checks into accounts. Mail theft is one route to a name and address; data broker and people-search listings are another, and that is the part Incogni handles. It sends removal requests to those sites on a person’s behalf and repeats them, and each request’s status shows in the account.

Send removal requests to people-search sites with Incogni →

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.