Bradley Jon Matheny, Counterfeiting, Iowa 2021

A Corridor e-Bayer has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for making over $250,000 in phony postage. Bradley Jon Matheny, age 43, from Marion, Iowa, received the prison term after a verdict finding him guilty of seven counts of postage meter stamp forgery and counterfeiting and three counts of export violations.

The evidence at the trial and the sentencing hearing showed that Matheny operated an eBay business known as “Mathenys” from his residence in Marion. Through “Mathenys,” Matheny sold retail goods to individuals all over the United States and around the world. Matheny used the United States Postal Service (USPS) to ship these goods to his customers. In 2015, for example, Matheny shipped over 28,000 packages with the USPS.

Matheny used forged and counterfeited postage meter stamps on many of the packages he sent to his customers between 2013 and 2017. The forged stamps allowed Matheny to avoid paying the full postage for his packages, which would have cost him tens of thousands of dollars.

In 2015, USPS personnel at the Cedar Rapids Main Post Office became suspicious of Matheny’s mailing practices after he kept dropping off his packages at the post office late in the evening at the dock. USPS eventually alerted federal law enforcement, specifically the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), that Matheny might be falsifying postage in connection with his eBay business.

The investigation revealed that Matheny had been using the forged stamps to ship packages to customers all over the world, including Russia, Israel, New Zealand, and South Africa. Matheny falsely certified on customs forms that his packages contained gifts worth a nominal sum, when in truth the contents of the packages were worth much more.

Matheny was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Matheny was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment and fined $10,000. He was also ordered to make $256,441.78 in restitution to the USPS. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. Matheny was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be determined.

The case serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting the integrity of the postal system and the consequences of falsifying postage. The investigation and prosecution of Matheny’s crimes were a collaborative effort between the USPIS and the US Postal Service.

Matheny’s crimes had significant financial implications, with the face value of the counterfeited and forged postage exceeding $380,000.

Related Federal Cases