A man from Waukegan, Illinois has admitted to traveling to Missouri and other states to open fraudulent bank accounts and deposit checks stolen from the U.S. Mail.
Terry Carter-Kilgore, 28, pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of bank fraud. According to court documents, between December 2022 and August 2024, Carter-Kilgore acquired checks that had been stolen from the mail. He used fraudulent driver’s licenses bearing his photo but containing the personal information of others, as well as fake business documents, to open unauthorized bank accounts in Missouri and other states under names matching those on the stolen checks. Carter-Kilgore then deposited or attempted to deposit at least six stolen checks totaling $214,935 into these accounts.
On December 21, 2022, Carter-Kilgore deposited a stolen check for $36,373 into an account at a bank in Florissant, Missouri using a fake driver’s license. More than a year later, on August 20, 2024, he opened another unauthorized account in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and tried to deposit another stolen check with a fraudulent Georgia driver’s license. Bank staff became suspicious and contacted the Lee’s Summit Police Department. When officers arrived at the scene, Carter-Kilgore fled but was later found hiding under the deck of a nearby home.
He admitted to police that he attempted to deposit a stolen check using a false driver’s license and said he had purchased both the check and identification document in Chicago.
Carter-Kilgore is scheduled for sentencing on March 9, 2026. The charge of bank fraud carries a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Lee’s Summit Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.
