A North Providence resident, Jamal Mansaray, 35, has confessed to his involvement in a bank fraud conspiracy, alongside charges of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and firearm offenses. The announcement came from Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom after Mansaray's guilty plea in U.S. District Court.
Mansaray admitted his involvement in acquiring checks issued and sent by both individuals and businesses, including those stolen from U.S. Mail. He and his associates obtained personal identity information from third parties to modify stolen checks, produce new ones, and gain unauthorized access to bank accounts.
Checks stolen and altered in the scheme included those from four Massachusetts towns intended for a special education contractor. These checks were taken from a commercial mailbox used by the contractor and altered using the identities of others. Surveillance footage from banks in Rhode Island captured Mansaray during the deposit of fraudulent checks and the extraction of the resulting funds in December 2022.
A legally sanctioned search of Mansaray's home in May 2023 led to the discovery of hundreds of individual and business checks, blank checks ready for alteration, over 1,000 pieces of blank check paper for counterfeiting, multiple laptops and printers, checks in various alteration stages, Social Security cards, debit cards, and a temporary driver's license under different names.
Inspectors from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service also found a loaded firearm and ammunition in Mansaray's backpack. Having been convicted of bank fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, and sentenced to 60 months in prison in October 2018, Mansaray was prohibited from possessing a firearm.
Mansaray is set to be sentenced on July 16, 2025, with the sentence to be determined by a federal district judge after reviewing U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and additional statutory considerations.
Assistant United States Attorneys Christine D. Lowell and John P. McAdams are prosecuting the case. The investigation was conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Rhode Island State Police.
