A Montgomery woman has been sentenced on April 1 to ten years in federal prison for her involvement in a scheme involving stolen mail and bank fraud, according to Acting United States Attorney Kevin Davidson.
The case highlights the significant consequences of financial crimes involving stolen checks and fraudulent banking activity. The court also ordered Rhashema Shackleford, age 37, to pay $376,679.95 as part of a money judgment and imposed five years of supervised release following her prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
According to court records and Shackleford’s plea agreement, she worked with others from August 2022 through June 2023 to steal mail in Montgomery, Alabama. Alongside co-conspirators Laportia Webster and Otis Daniels, Shackleford obtained checks from stolen mail, altered them or used them to create counterfeit checks for deposit into various bank accounts.
Between August 26, 2022, and January 20, 2023, Shackleford conspired with Webster using Webster’s accounts for about $114,311.50 in fraudulent deposits. From December 29, 2022 through February 7, 2023 she worked with Daniels on transactions totaling approximately $264,368.16 in fraudulent deposits and withdrawals; she also cashed three cashier’s checks totaling $64,000 during this period.
Investigators discovered that on March 31 last year Shackleford deposited a check worth $12,480.29 drawn on a business victim’s account. A search at her residence by agents on June 16 revealed stolen checks along with identification documents used for fraud.
Shackleford pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to bank and mail fraud on September 18 last year. Her co-conspirator Daniels received a sentence of twenty-seven months’ imprisonment; Webster is scheduled for sentencing later this month.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service together with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and Montgomery Police Department.
