Man charged with stealing dozens of checks from Macon mailboxes, selling them online
A man is accused of stealing dozens of checks from Macon mailboxes and selling them through Telegram, according to an indictment filed in federal court Wednesday.
Keyon Ponder was indicted on one count of stealing mail, seven counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud for his alleged scheme to profit from the stolen checks. He stole 59 checks and one money order of varying amounts from mailboxes, according to the indictment. He allegedly took redacted pictures, and sent them to a Telegram channel for users to request the full picture to cash out.
The value of seven of the 59 checks was listed in the indictment. Among those, two of them belonged to The Big House Foundation, which is housed where The Allman Brothers lived. The foundation two checks listed: one amounted to $2,689.20 and another was $2,075.
The Houston County clerk of superior court also had a check worth $2,309 that was allegedly taken, according to the indictment.
Little River Park, LLC, an RV site in Milledgeville, had one check for $3,949.10 and another amounting to $12,236.98 listed in the indictment.
Ponder and another person, who hadn’t been indicted as of Wednesday at this time, served as administrators of the Telegram channel. The indictment mentioned that, by May 31, he had pictures of “more than 500 stolen checks on his cellular phone.”
As a result of the indictment, Ponder is forced to forfeit any property that is relevant to the alleged scheme, according to the indictment.
This story was originally published September 13, 2024 at 1:12 PM.
