Baltimore, Maryland – A Nigerian national and former resident of Atlanta, Georgia, has been sentenced to over four years in federal prison for his role in a mail fraud conspiracy that resulted in the loss of more than $500,000.
Samson A. Oguntuyi, 29, was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Imari R. Niles of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General; Postal Inspector in Charge Greg Torbenson of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division; and Special Agent in Charge J. Russell George of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
According to his plea agreement, between July 25, 2016, and February 5, 2019, Oguntuyi conspired with Johnson B. Ogunlana, 25, of Middle River, Maryland, and others to steal bank checks and credit and debit cards from the mail, open fraudulent business banking accounts using the names of victim businesses and the stolen identities of victim postal customers to negotiate the stolen checks by depositing them into the fraudulent bank accounts, and then conduct transactions with stolen payment cards and with money derived from the stolen checks.
As part of the scheme to defraud, Ogunlana intercepted and stole mail pieces containing credit cards addressed to individual victims and sent photos of the stolen mail pieces and credit cards through a messaging application to Oguntuyi and other conspirators. Oguntuyi then used the victims’ personal identifying information to activate the stolen credit cards and to obtain new credit cards the victims never requested or applied for.
Once the stolen credit cards were activated, members of the conspiracy used the credit cards to make retail purchases. As detailed in his plea agreement, members of the conspiracy registered fraudulent businesses with state government agencies using the names of victim businesses and the names and identifying information of postal customer identity theft victims as the agents and/or incorporators of the businesses.
Oguntuyi and Ogunlana then endorsed some of the checks by forging the signatures of identity theft victims and deposited the checks into the fraudulent business bank accounts the conspirators opened in the names of the victim businesses. The conspirators then withdrew the money from the accounts through cash withdrawals, debit card purchases, and cash back transactions at retail merchants, wire transfers, and by writing checks drawn on the accounts.
As stated in his plea agreement, at least $565,000 was stolen from two victim businesses and at least eight postal customers were victims of identity theft. Ogunlana, a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in Brooklyn, Maryland, was previously sentenced to six years in federal prison for his role in the conspiracy.
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Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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