Tampa, Florida - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Richard Lee Anderson (37, Tampa) today pleaded guilty to receiving stolen government property. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. Anderson also faces drug and firearms charges in a separate federal case (8:15-CR-473-T-35AEP).
According to the plea agreement, between May and October 2012, Anderson received stolen Social Security benefit checks, totaling at least $2,275,000, from a United States Postal Service mail handler who worked at the Processing and Distribution Center (PDC) facility in St. Petersburg. The checks were all addressed to beneficiaries living in Pinellas County. Anderson then sold the checks to various individuals for a percentage of their face value and those individuals, in turn, cashed the checks or employed others to do so for them. Anderson paid the mail handler a percentage of the checks’ face value.
This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Tampa Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Scruggs.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
