Columbia, South Carolina---- U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles announced that four individuals were sentenced in federal court in Columbia, SC as part of a mail theft and forgery ring that was operating in the Midlands of South Carolina from July 2014 through November 2014. Johnnie Wayne Martin, III, 50, of Lexington, SC, Sandra Kay Cheeks, 48, of Lexington, SC, Brodie Kale Sexton, 39, of Columbia, SC, and Brandy Michelle Mitchell, 36, of Lexington, SC, were all sentenced by The Honorable Mary Geiger Lewis. The four all plead guilty in federal court in 2015 to an indictment which alleged that the individuals would illegally remove checks from mail boxes and other mail receptacles. The indictment further alleged that the defendants would change the amount and the name of the payee on the check to one of the defendants or the name of an innocent victim whose identification had been illegally obtained by the defendants.
Johnnie Martin, III, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 42 months with 3 years of supervision upon release and was ordered to pay $7,616.79 in restitution.
Sandra Cheeks was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 24 months with 1 year of supervision upon release and was ordered to pay $1,044.28 in restitution.
Brodie Sexton was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 24 months with 1 year of supervision upon release and was ordered to pay $1,264.76 in restitution.
Brandi Mitchell was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 10 months with 5 years of supervision upon release and was ordered to pay $302.69 in restitution.
The investigation was conducted by the Midlands Financial Crimes Group, or MFCG, and led by the US Postal Inspection Service Columbia, SC field office. The MFCG is a group of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, along with bank investigators and private industry security personnel, that meets once a month to discuss ongoing criminal incidents involving forgery, theft, fraud, identity theft, and other similar white collar crimes in the Midlands of South Carolina.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney John Potterfield of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
