SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Osceola, Mo., man and woman were indicted by a federal grand jury today for bank fraud and mail theft. These are additional charges in a case that originated when stolen mail was found by a state trooper who followed a trail of blood from a car accident.
David M. Riili, 32, and Lindsey Scott, 23, both of Osceola, were charged in a 19-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a criminal complaint that was filed against Riili on Jan. 3, 2012, and adds Scott as a defendant as well as additional charges.
Today’s indictment alleges that Riili and Scott were involved in a conspiracy from Sept. 13 to Nov. 22, 2011. They allegedly stole checks from business and residential mailboxes in the southwest Missouri area, then altered and forged these checks by adding their own names, or the names of other individuals, to the payee lines of the stolen checks. Riili then either cashed the checks, the indictment says, or deposited the checks into one of his accounts at three different banks. Riili allegedly withdrew the proceeds of the stolen checks by writing checks on the accounts, making debit card purchases on the accounts, or making cash withdrawals from the accounts.
