Maurice Shuler, U.S. Treasury Check Theft, Georgia 2024

ATLANTA – In a shocking display of brazen crime, fifteen defendants have been sentenced for their part in a ring that stole over $10 million in U.S. Treasury checks from the mail and then cashed them at Walmart and Kroger stores around the country using fake identifications.

The sentences ranged from two to ten years in prison for members of the ring, with the mastermind behind the operation, Maurice Shuler, 29, of Atlanta, Georgia, receiving a seven-year sentence.

According to U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak, the charges and other information presented in court, Shuler and his co-conspirator, Milton Minter, received stolen U.S. Treasury checks that were taken from the U.S. Mail before reaching their intended recipients.

The checks included tax refund, Social Security, and veterans checks. After receiving the checks, Shuler and Minter provided them to a network of check cashers who negotiated the stolen checks, mainly at Walmart and Kroger stores.

The defendants used fake driver’s licenses to pose as the check payees and forged the payees’ names on the back of the checks. They also used other individuals’ Social Security numbers to cash the checks.

In an effort to avoid detection, the defendants traveled to different states, including Alabama, Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Kentucky, Iowa, Louisiana, and Tennessee, to cash the stolen checks.

Over the span of four years, the ring was responsible for cashing over 6,000 stolen U.S. Treasury checks worth over $10 million. The sentences handed down by U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. bring an end to a brazen scheme that has left many victims in its wake.

U.S. Attorney Pak praised the work of the multi-agency Stolen Treasury Check Task Force, which targeted the widespread problem of U.S. Treasury check thefts in Georgia.

“Criminals who steal Treasury checks victimize senior citizens, the disabled, veterans, and hard-working taxpayers who have earned these funds and depend on them,” Pak said.

“As this case shows, we will pursue these theft rings and hold them accountable regardless of how far away they go to cash the checks and avoid detection.”

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