NYPD
Dec. 11, 2019 By Kristen Torres
A Long Island man has been sentenced to up to three years in prison after he was caught stealing mail — including checks totaling more than $300,000 — from United States postal boxes in Rego Park and throughout Queens.
Travis Everett aka Lamont Everett, 26, of Brentwood, Long Island, pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal possession of stolen property in October, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry S. Kron sentenced Everett to one to three years in prison on Tuesday.
According to the charges, Everett was caught on a NYPD live video feed removing mail from a blue mailbox on 108th Street and 63rd Drive in Rego Park in November 2018.
Everett placed an object inside the mailbox, pulled on an attached string, and was able to remove mail from the box, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Police said he had two batteries attached to a rat adhesive trap with a shoe string when they nabbed him.
When he was caught and questioned by police, Everett said he was attempting to retrieve his keys which he said fell inside the mailbox.
“The defendant made a business out of mailbox fishing,” said Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan. “The defendant was caught in the act at one specific box, but he apparently dropped his fish line at various mailboxes here in Queens.”
The district attorney’s office said police ultimately found four pieces of mail inside Everett’s car, along with 32 checks in the glove compartment and 314 checks inside the trunk. The value of all recovered checks added up to more than $300,000.
Two of the recovered checks — written for $41,202 and $52,639 — had been mailed from Fresh Meadows, Queens.
“After admitting to his crimes, the defendant is going to jail,” Ryan said.
Everett also pleaded guilty in a separate case to identity theft and possession of a forged instrument in Manhattan, where he is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2020.
His Manhattan case consists of six separate incidents in 2016 when Everett was captured depositing stolen and forged checks into bank accounts of complicit account holders before withdrawing the funds.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. warned New Yorkers that the safest way to mail checks and other important documents is by walking them to the Post office.
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10 Comments
When it happened to us the guy put his name and an item number for what he was paying for. I was surprised at the lackadaisal attitude of.my bank. Sure everything was done for us and the money returned but they didnt go after the guy the bank takes the hit. No wonder these thieves get away with it for so long.
Three yrs for taking 300k worth of proceeds?? Hey why wasn’t he turned over to the postal inspection service?? He would have been doing major time under the federal system. Or is this a ruse for favors?? May bee a friend of a friend who called in a favor Lord don’t let the feds get him Lord please.
No matter what the amount of the check that was mailed, if he stole over $300,000 and he’s getting 3 years, that’s about 1 year for every $100,000. Wow – tough sentence – NOT! What a joke of a justice system. Isn’t a mailbox federal property?
We need to shut down our prisons and not jail our fellow citizens. He just stole some mail, not like he killed anyone… #ShutDownRikers #ShutDownAllJails
“I love AOC and bernie and free stuff and socialism” lol, at least try
Why don’t we give him a reward for being a concerned citizen who wants to alert his brothers and sisters so they wouldn’t send important mail via USPS. We need to shut down our prisons after all!
Freedom to all the felons!
Extremes don’t work AOC. Besides the thief the greatest problems are the extremes on either end with knee jerk reactions.
On the left, close down prisons, let first degree murderers out after 7 yrs.
On the right, execute anybody for any felony if they commit it again.
Clear, stiff humane punishment with opportunities for rehab and lessoning of sentence if prisoners are model citizens but back in prison again if you commit another crime is the way to go.
I had a $2500 check stolen recently from LIC… i worked hard for that money & then someone stole the check from my mail, tried to cash it & fortunately
the people who worked at two different check cashing stores did their job &
didnt allow it to be cashed. If you have more than enough money to make such comments, then please give to your local charity… Because i work hard to pay my bills & keep foood on the table…
I’m sorry but if you are mailing checks worth 40 grand, this is what you get.
Checks of that amount need to be authorized by the bank it’s coming from. Some sort of bank note or money order.
youre saying you deserve to be ripped off if you send large amounts of money through the mail… Who are you? How were you brought up?