NJ Man Gets 2 Years For Bribing Mail Carriers to Steal Postal Keys, Bank Fraud

A man from North Jersey has learned his fate after pleading guilty to his role in a scheme to bribe mail carriers to steal postal arrow keys which led to bank fraud.

Federal authorities said 29-year-old Amin C. Jones of Orange, Essex County, was part of a plot where those keys were then used to access mail receptacles, parcels were stolen out of the mail, and then used to fraudulently obtain money from banks.

Jones had pleaded guilty in federal court to one count each of bribery of U.S. Postal Service mail carriers and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 24 months behind bars.

According to court documents, Jones schemed to bribe mail carriers in East Orange and Newark by offering them cash, typically $5,000, in exchange for those mail carriers giving Jones a postal arrow key which could be used to access a variety of mail receptacles.

Jones and others sought those keys so they could steal mail.

During the first half of 2021, Jones conspired with others to fraudulently obtain funds from banks by stealing mail and using stolen checks and bank cards to draw funds from various accounts.

In the summer of 2021, Jones and another individual drove to various locations in East Orange and Newark where they stopped at least four different mail carriers, including an undercover postal inspector who Jones believed was a mail carrier, and handed them a note indicating they would give $5,000 to the mail carrier in exchange for an arrow key.

In addition to the prison term, Jones was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $6,300 in restitution.