ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. –– A Raleigh, North Carolina man, Carl Edwin Parker, Jr., was sentenced Tuesday to 63 months in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. On October 20, 2021, Parker pleaded guilty to the charge. As part of sentencing, Parker was further ordered to pay criminal restitution to State Employees’ Credit Union.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, between approximately May 2019 and April 2020, Parker and his co-conspirators stole checks from residential mailboxes and altered them to make them payable to individuals that were recruited to serve as “money mules.”
The “money mules” agreed to deposit the altered checks into their bank accounts, after which Parker and his co-conspirators cashed out the stolen funds at area ATMs. Parker and his fraud ring stole checks from more than 100 victims and caused financial losses of more than $150,000.
In 2017, Parker was convicted of federal bank fraud for engaging in similar activity in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Parker’s co-conspirators in the current case included Khristopher Taion Stukes, Kauri Maleek Johnson-Chavis, and Jallani Jewels Stewart. Each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in separate related cases. Stewart was sentenced on March 31, 2022, to 57 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release.
On January 14, 2022, Johnson-Chavis was sentenced to 63 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release.
On February 10, 2021, Stukes was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release. All three defendants were ordered to pay criminal restitution.
Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle. The United States Postal Inspection Service, Atlanta Division, together with the Raleigh Police Department, Wake County Sheriff’s Office, and other local law enforcement partners, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam F. Hulbig prosecuted the case.
