Osceola man sentenced for stealing mail, ID's

July 30, 2012|Brian Vandenberg, Edited News Release From The U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District Of Missouri

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Osceola, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a bank fraud conspiracy, as well as wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

David M. Riili, 33, of Osceola, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to 57 months in federal prison without parole. Riili’s federal sentence was ordered to run consecutively to five felony sentences imposed by the state of Missouri for unrelated conduct.

Riili and co-defendant Lindsey Scott, 23, of Osceola, pleaded guilty in April 2012; Scott awaits sentencing. Riili and Scott admitted that they stole checks, credit cards and other mail from business and residential mailboxes in southwest Missouri. They altered and forged the stolen checks by adding the names of other individuals to the payee lines of the stolen checks. They cashed the checks or deposited them into Riili’s bank account. The amount of those checks in the scheme, which lasted from Sept. 13 to Nov. 22, 2011, totaled $44,716.

Riili and Scott also admitted that they stole credit cards from the mail and used some of them to make unauthorized purchases at businesses in the Springfield area.

According to court documents, they were arrested after Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers responded to a one-vehicle accident on Missouri Highway 76, near Indian Point Road in Stone County on Sept. 16, 2011. Riili’s vehicle had left the roadway and slid into the woods, where it struck a tree. Riili and Scott, a passenger, were transported by ambulance.

A state trooper followed trails of blood from the vehicle into the woods. One of the blood trails led to a pile of leaves. The officer dug through the leaves and discovered an envelope full of checks that were made out to different businesses. The trooper also found a large trash bag that contained stolen mail from different areas throughout southwest Missouri.

This case is being prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. Oliver. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

|

|

|