Former USPS employee sentenced to 27 months in jail for stealing $1.9 million in checks
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(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — A former United States Postal Service employee in North Carolina was sentenced to 27 months in prison after he allegedly stole over $1.9 million in checks from P.O. boxes, according to federal prosecutors.
Dontavis Romario Truesdale, 28, was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for financial institution fraud after he “stole $1.9 million in business checks from the post office where he worked,” federal prosecutors said in a press release.
Truesdale pleaded guilty in January.
According to court records, from November 2022 to April 2023, Truesdale worked as a processing clerk at the Ballantyne Post Office in Charlotte, where he allegedly used his position to “steal hundreds of checks of businesses that maintained post office boxes at that location,” federal prosecutors said.
Truesdale then “sold the stolen checks to other co-conspirators who committed bank fraud,” federal prosecutors said.
Over the course of this scheme, Truesdale “stole more than 200 checks with a total face value of over $1.9 million,” federal prosecutors said.
Truesdale was released following the sentencing hearing, but will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons “upon designation of a federal facility,” federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the U.S. Postal Service, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the Office of the Inspector General also assisted in the investigation.
Attorneys for Truesdale and the USPS did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Facing the potential of life in prison on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, Sean Combs hired a high-profile team of defense lawyers for his criminal trial in New York.
With a combined 150 years of legal experience, Combs’ team of lawyers have defended everyone from alleged United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione to disgraced financier Martin Shrkeli and rapper Young Thug.
“In looking at the team, especially on the first day of jury selection, it seems like they’ve got people who are experts in their own kind of general areas,” said ABC News Legal Contributor Brian Buckmire. “I think the team that Diddy has put together are some heavy hitters in their own rights, and they’re working together as such.”
Combs, a self-proclaimed “Bad Boy for Life”, was charged last year with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and prostitution after prosecutors accused the rap mogul of using violence to coerce women into sex, protect his business empire, and preserve his reputation as one of hip-hop’s most important figures. If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison.
Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations against him, and his lawyers are expected to argue that any of the alleged sexual activity was done by consenting adults. He rejected a plea deal last week.
With an estimated billion-dollar fortune helping support his legal defense, Combs is relying on his high-powered army of attorneys to defend him in court and convince a jury to spare him a lengthy prison sentence.
Marc Agnifilo
Experienced defense attorney Marc Agnifilo is leading Combs’ defense team, bringing with him experience defending NXIVM leader Keith Raniere, “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli and Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng.
Raniere was convicted for creating what prosecutors described as a sex cult in which female members were branded with his initials and kept in line through blackmail and sentenced to 120 years in prison. Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in person for securities fraud and conspiracy, while Ng was sentenced to 10 years in person for his alleged role in a money laundering and bribery scheme including paying more than $1.6 billion in bridges to dozens of government officials.
Agnifilo also has experience working as a federal and state prosecutor and boasts having tried more than 200 cases over his three-decade legal career.
Agnifilo is also one half of a legal power couple with his wife Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former prosecutor who investigated the Trump Organization while with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Since leaving government service, her most high-profile client has been Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year.
Teny Geragos
Teny Geragos is a founding partner at New York-based law firm Agnifilo Intrater, and also defended Raniere and Shkreli. She graduated from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 2016.
Geragos is also the daughter of famed defense attorney Mark Geragos, whose clients include Hunter Biden, Chris Brown and Michael Jackson. While Mark Geragos is not representing Combs, his appearance in court during jury selection sparked criticism from prosecutors due to his past public statements about the case on his podcast. Federal prosecutors asked the judge to remind Mark Geragos about court policies that forbid statements outside court that could interfere with a fair trial.
Mark Geragos is also involved in a simultaneous high-profile case — arguing for the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez 35 years after the pair was convicted of killing their parents.
Alexandra Shapiro
Alexandra Shapiro brings over 30 years of appellate experience to Combs’ legal team, having served as the deputy chief of appeals for the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan and an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice.
She represented Sam Bankman-Fried in the failed appeal of his criminal conviction and scored a series of legal victories at the United States Supreme Court. She also clerked for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — a job she shares with the judge overseeing Combs’ case, though the two did not overlap.
Brian Steel
Atlanta-based attorney Brian Steel joined Combs’ legal team last month after gaining national attention defending rapper Young Thug.
After the longest criminal trial in Georgia history, Young Thug pleaded guilty to gun, drug and gang charges but was spared a lengthy prison sentence. Steel was briefly sent to jail during the trial after the judge overseeing the case held him in contempt for refusing to provide the judge information about what he learned of a meeting between prosecutors, a witness and the judge himself. The contempt ruling was later overturned.
Xavier Donaldson
Xavier Donaldson, a New York-based criminal defense attorney, joined Combs’ legal team on the eve of trial. He has nearly three decades of criminal defense experience and worked as a former prosecutor in the Bronx.
Anna Estevao
Anna Estevao is a partner at New York law firm Sher Tremonte LLP. She graduated from New York University School of Law and briefly worked as a federal defender in California, according to her Linkedin profile.
Jason Driscoll
Jason Driscoll is an associate at Shapiro’s law firm and one of the most junior members of Combs’ defense team. He graduated from New York University School of Law and completed two deferral clerkships.
Linda Moreno
Linda Moreno is a high-profile legal consultant who joined Combs’ legal team to help with jury selection. Her law firm’s website describes her an expert on anti-Muslim bias, including representing Sami Amin Al-Arian after he was indicted under the Patriot Act for allegedly playing a leadership role in the terrorist group Palestinian Jihad. He was acquitted on most charges and pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
She also was on the legal team that secured an acquittal for Noor Salman, the wife of the Pulse nightclub shooter who was accused of lying to the FBI and helping her husband.
Moreno is no stranger to celebrity trials having worked on the legal team defending American actor Wesley Snipes in his criminal trial for failing to file tax returns. Snipes was convicted on three misdemeanor charges but acquitted on the more serious felony charges.
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is acknowledging it deported four noncitizens to El Salvador despite a court order barring the removal of people to countries other than their place of origin without an opportunity to raise concerns about their safety.
In a series of court filings overnight, Justice Department lawyers argued that the court order was not violated because the removal of four alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was carried out by the Department of Defense — not the Department of Homeland Security, which is a defendant in the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued a court order on March 28 requiring that anyone with a final order of removal must have an opportunity to raise concerns about their safety before they are deported to a so-called “third country” that is not on their order of removal or their country of origin.
Three days after Judge Murphy’s order, the four men — who are originally from Venezuela — were flown from U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to El Salvador, according to a sworn declaration from Tracey Huettl, a unit chief for field operations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Huettl said that each of the four men were identified as members of Tren de Aragua by federal law enforcement, and had extensive criminal records.
According to her declaration, one man admitted he was a member of the gang and that he recruited prostitutes for the organization, and another was charged with multiple crimes including discharge of a firearm and theft.
Another man is allegedly a sex offender who was charged with human smuggling and convicted for domestic assault, and the last was arrested for possession and use of drug-related objects.
None of the men had orders of removal to El Salvador before they were deported to that country on March 31, according to the filings.
Judge Murphy set an April 28 conference earlier this month to learn more about what he described as the “potential violations of the temporary restraining order.”
Last Friday, the judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Trump administration to give noncitizens the chance to raise concerns about their safety before they are removed to third countries.
(MILFORD, MA) — Protests have erupted over the arrest of an 18-year-old Massachusetts high school student who state officials say was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents over the weekend while on his way to volleyball practice.
Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a Brazilian national who is a junior at Milford Public High School, was arrested on Saturday, according to a court filing from his attorney.
Students at the high school staged a walkout on Monday in support of Gomes da Silva, holding signs that said “Free Marcelo.” The protest followed community demonstrations at the Milford Town Hall on Sunday calling for his release.
The teen, who is currently in ICE custody, was not the target of the operation but was a collateral arrest, according to ICE officials.
“When we go out into the community and we find others who are unlawfully here, we are going to arrest them,” ICE acting Field Director Patricia Hyde said at a press briefing on Monday. “We’ve been completely transparent with that. He’s 18 years old. He’s unlawfully in this country.”
Gomes da Silva’s father was the actual target of the operation, according to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. The father, Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira, was sought because he “has a habit of reckless driving” at speeds over 100 mph, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Agents made a traffic stop on the father’s vehicle, which Gomes da Silva was driving at the time of his arrest, Lyons said during the briefing. The father has not turned himself in yet, he said.
Gomes da Silva entered the U.S. in 2012 through a student visa, which has since lapsed, according to his attorney. He has no criminal history and is “eligible for and intends to apply for asylum,” his attorney stated in a habeas corpus petition filed Sunday seeking his release.
A federal judge issued an emergency order Sunday afternoon directing the government not to remove Gomes da Silva from the U.S. or to transfer him out of the judicial district of Massachusetts for at least 72 hours. On Monday, a federal judge ordered that the government not transfer the teen out of Massachusetts without first providing the court at least 48 hours advance notice of and reasons for the move.
The ICE detainee locator website lists Gomes da Silva as being in custody but does not list where he is being held. His habeas petition indicates “on information and belief” that ICE is detaining him at a field office in Burlington, Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she is “demanding immediate answers from ICE” about the teen’s arrest, where he is being held and “how his due process is being protected.”
“I’m disturbed and outraged by reports that a Milford High School student was arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice yesterday,” Healey said in a statement on X on Sunday. “Yet again, local officials and law enforcement have been left in the dark with no heads up and no answers to their questions.”
Kevin McIntyre, the Milford superintendent of schools, said in a statement that the student was detained off-campus, and several parents have also been detained by ICE in recent weeks.
“We are all distraught by this news,” McIntyre said in a statement. “The Milford Public Schools play no part in immigration enforcement and support all of our students and families, including those who are immigrants to the United States. They are members of the community, students in our classrooms, athletes that compete representing Milford, musicians, artists, friends, and neighbors. We will do everything in our power to support our students and families during these difficult times.”
Gomes da Silva was supposed to play in the band at the high school’s graduation on Sunday, Boston ABC affiliate WCVB reported. Some graduates marched from the ceremony to the protest at Milford Town Hall, still in their caps and gowns.
The teen’s friends expressed shock and dismay at his arrest. His girlfriend, Julianys Rentas, told WCVB that he plays drums for her church.
“He’s a member of his community and he’s never done anything wrong,” she told the station while fighting back tears.
U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who attended Sunday’s rally, also expressed disbelief at the teen’s detainment.
“I don’t see how a kid en route to volleyball, who is an honors student, who’s a musician in the high school band — that kid is not a threat to law and order,” the Democrat told WCVB.
ICE arrested 1,461 “alien offenders” in the region in May as part of a large-scale operation, according to Hyde. Over half — 790 — had “significant criminality as well,” she said.
Pressed by reporters on whether Gomes da Silva was a danger to the community, Lyons said, “I didn’t say he was dangerous. I said he’s in this country illegally.”
“We’re not going to walk away from anybody,” he added.
ABC News’ Luke Barr and James Hill contributed to this report.
