Stole More Than Half a Million Dollars in Checks & Money Orders
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Nov. 20, 2019 - An 11-count indictment returned last week charged three individuals from Trenton, Kentucky with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and theft of mail, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Adam Perrelli, 41, Kaitlin Patterson, 30, and Natasha Pargellis, 35, were indicted on Nov. 13, 2019, after a lengthy investigation into mail thefts in and around the Clarksville, Tennessee area.
According to the indictment, the defendants obtained a master key that allowed them to open mail receptacles such as street collection boxes and panels of apartment house mailboxes. During the period of March 2018 through September 2018, the trio drove with each other and other individuals to various mail receptacles and took large amounts of mail. They then sorted through the mail looking for documents to use for their personal benefit, including checks, money orders, credit cards and personal identifying information. The documents were then altered and made payable to another participant in the conspiracy and approximately $32,000 in altered checks and money orders were cashed or deposited. The investigation uncovered an additional $540,000 in stolen checks and money orders which they intended to alter.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Clarksville Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Levine.
An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. # #
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
