Akinbobola Komolafe, Check Theft and Forgery, Virginia 2023

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Akinbobola Komolafe Pleads Guilty to Check Theft and Forgery Scheme

A devastating check theft and forgery scheme has been brought to justice in Virginia. Akinbobola Komolafe, a 27-year-old man from Hanover, Maryland, has pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme that left at least 10 victims with nearly half a million dollars in losses.

According to court documents, Komolafe and his co-conspirators stole checks from the U.S. mail, many of which had been mailed from the area around Glen Echo, Maryland. The checks were then altered to change the payment amount and the payee’s name. For example, Komolafe and his conspirators altered a check originally written for $43.20 to a medical practice to instead pay $40,000 to a co-conspirator. Another check involved in the conspiracy, originally written for $140.00 to a physician, was altered to pay $30,000 to a co-conspirator.

Komolafe was captured on surveillance footage at Wells Fargo bank branches in Falls Church and Arlington, depositing the fraudulent checks into the accounts of recruited co-conspirators. Komolafe was identified as the depositor of the checks by his distinct clothing, which matched that which he was wearing in posts on his social media accounts.

Once the fraudulent proceeds were deposited, Komolafe and others divided the proceeds among themselves and transferred the proceeds into other accounts to conceal the source of the proceeds. The conspiracy caused no less than approximately $486,716 in loss, and Komolafe personally obtained or shared in no less than $100,000 of that loss.

Komolafe is scheduled to be sentenced on July 28, 2023. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jessica D. Aber, and Damon E. Wood, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III, accepted the plea.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary Ray and Katherine Rumbaugh are prosecuting the case.