Four plead guilty to stealing $63M in checks from mail

METRO DETROIT — Four people, including a rapper from Rochester Hills, have pleaded guilty to stealing $63 million in checks from the U.S. Postal Service and selling them online.

Rapper Jaiswan Williams, 32, of Rochester Hills; Daquan Foreman, 32, of Eastpointe; Vanessa Hargrove, 40, of Detroit; and Crystal Jenkins, 32, of Detroit, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to aid and abet bank and wire fraud.

Williams also pleaded guilty to money laundering and accepted responsibility for $1.5 million in fraudulent pandemic unemployment insurance benefit claims submitted between May 2020 and September 2021.

According to federal prosecutors, the scheme involved two postal employees, Hargrove and Jenkins, who allegedly diverted and stole checks and “other negotiable instruments” from the mail, including tax refund checks issued by the U.S. Treasury.

The two postal workers would then give the stolen checks to two co-conspirators, Williams and Foreman,  in exchange for money.

The stolen checks were sold online via Telegram Messenger — a cloud-based, cross-platform instant messaging application — on the channels “Whole Foods Slipsss” and “Uber Eats Slips.” Purchasers of the stolen checks — also known as “slips” — would buy the checks using various methods, including the mobile financial services platforms, and then attempt to fraudulently cash them.

“When public employees break the public trust, they enrich themselves at the expense of the American taxpayer and undermine the institution itself,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said in a statement. “We will find and prosecute those who exploit their position for personal gain.”

All four defendants face up to 30 years in prison. Williams also faces up to 20 years on the money laundering charge.

Hargrove and Foreman are scheduled to be sentenced March 3, while Williams’ sentencing is April 14, and Jenkins’ sentencing is set for May 27, all in front of U.S District Judge Judith E. Levy.

Williams’ lawyer, Steven Fishman, said he had no comment at press time.

Foreman’s lawyer, Steven E. Scharg, said his client “is very remorseful and will do anything possible to pay back the restitution in this matter.”

Hargrove’s attorney, Pamella R. Szydlak, and Jenkins’ attorney, David Malcom Burgess, could not be reached for comment at press time.