Virginia man who stole mail from 150 people in COVID-19 stimulus scheme gets nearly 6 years

Reston man pleads guilty in stimulus scheme

A Reston man is accused of stealing mail from more than 150 people in Fairfax County – and then using it to make counterfeit COVID-19 stimulus checks and other fraudulent financial transactions.

RESTON, Va. - A Reston man who stole mail from 150 people as part of a COVID-19 stimulus scam was sentenced to nearly six years in prison on Thursday.

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In April, Jon Drew pleaded guilty to the scheme, in which he used the stolen mail to make phony stimulus checks and other fraudulent transactions.

Court documents indicate that Drew stole mail from people in Fairfax and Loudoun counties between December 2019 and August 2020. The items he stole included bank statements, credit card statements, credit cards, W-2 forms, and more than $700,000 in checks – including stimulus checks.

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He used the stimulus checks to forge more checks ranging from $1,200 to $2,400 – and he used his own authentically issued stimulus check twice.