PARKVILLE, MD—A Parkville man has pleaded guilty to charges related to a conspiracy to steal mail.

Dominic Jerry Robinson, 27, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal charges of conspiracy to steal mail and mail theft in connection with various fraud schemes.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Postal Inspector in Charge Daniel A. Adame of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division; Special Agent in Charge Bo Keane of the United States Secret Service – Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, between May 2019 and March 2020, Robinson conspired with others, including Nicholas Milano White and Cedric Jonathan McNeal Parker, to engage in fraud schemes and criminal conduct including, theft of mail, fraud involving checks and money orders, trafficking and possession of false identification documents, and unlawful possession of counterfeit credit and debit cards.

Robinson admits that on October 10, 2019, a forged check in the amount of $3,500 drawn on a victim’s trust account was deposited into a “drop account,” a bank account used to deposit and transfer proceeds of fraud, without the consent or authorization of the account holder, a resident of Illinois. That same day, Robinson was captured on surveillance withdrawing $3,500 from the drop account at an ATM in Baltimore.

As detailed in Robinson’s plea agreement, on February 5, 2020, co-defendant Nicholas Milano White deposited a $4,250 stolen check into a bank account opened in Robinson’s name. The check had been stolen from a mail collection box in Rosedale. The stolen check was subsequently altered to list Robinson as payee and endorsed with Robinson’s signature. ATM surveillance images captured White getting out of a white sedan registered to Robinson in order to make the fraudulent deposit. Within two days of the fraudulent deposit, approximately $2,382.50 was debited from Robinson’s account through withdrawals and purchases.

Between March l, 2020, and March 8, 2020, Robinson, White, and McNeal Parker stole mail from multiple USPS collection boxes. On March 1, 2020, White sent Robinson a list of locations of mail collection boxes via text message. During the early morning hours of March 8, 2020, Robinson picked up White and McNeal Parker and traveled with them in Robinson’s white sedan to a mail collection box in Rosedale, Maryland, where White and McNeal Parker were captured on surveillance images exiting the vehicle, stealing mail from a collection box, and reentering the vehicle with the stolen mail. Robinson and his co-defendants traveled to several other locations and stole mail from at least two other collections boxes. Baltimore County Police Department officers began pursuing Robinson’s vehicle, which fled. Law enforcement eventually located the vehicle in a residential area of Pikesville, Maryland. The vehicle was unoccupied and gloves, trash bags, and approximately 358 pieces of unprocessed U.S. mail were on the ground outside of the vehicle. Law enforcement found and arrested Robinson and White at a nearby location.

Mail stolen by Robinson and his co-conspirators included mail deposited by at least approximately 136 postal customers and addressed to the Internal Revenue Service, the Comptroller of Maryland, and numerous other government agencies, businesses, and individuals. Approximately 48 victims reported that mail stolen by Robinson and his co-conspirators contained bank checks or other financial instruments valued at approximately $48,938. Many victims also reported that their stolen mail contained documents listing sensitive personal identifying information (“PII”) and/or sensitive financial information.

During a search of Robinson’s vehicle, law enforcement recovered a red cell phone, three credit cards not issued in Robinson’s name, a false photo identification listing a name with initials A.D., three money orders totaling $1,575 and listing A.D. as payee, and a portable mini encoder, a device used to encode magnetic stripes on credit or debit cards. Further investigation revealed that the money orders found in the vehicle had been stolen from mail collection boxes in February 2020. The money orders were subsequently altered to remove the names of the original payees and to list A.D.’s name as the payee of each money order.

Examination of the red cell phone confirmed that the cell phone was owned and used by Robinson and revealed text messages about stealing mail and committing fraud by counterfeiting checks and money orders and negotiating stolen checks. Robinson’s cell phone also contained text messages he exchanged with White asking White to produce a false photo identification for another person in exchange for payment. Robinson sent White a photo of the person’s face and certain identifiers, including a Social Security number belonging to another person. White eventually responded with a photo of the fake photo identification he produced upon Robinson’s request.

Robinson’s cell phone also contained sensitive personal and financial information belonging to other persons. Law enforcement recovered from the cell phone images of other persons’ W-2 tax forms and other sensitive documents, including medical records. Robinson admitted that he also possessed credit and debit card “dumps” on his cell phone, which included information associated with at least 20 credit and debit cards issued to other persons and the persons’ names and addresses and that he had made fraudulent charges totaling at least $6,284.19 on those credit and debit card accounts. Robinson also had notes on the phone listing PII, including Social Security numbers, assigned to at least 20 real persons. Examination of Robinson’s cell phone showed that he had browsed personal data broker websites and websites that illegally marketed and distributed sensitive credit and debit card information.

As part of his plea agreement, Robinson will be required to pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, which the parties have stipulated is at least $12,366.69.

Robinson and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Robinson will be sentenced to between 30 and 42 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for February 3, 2022, at 3:00 p.m.

Nicholas Milano White, 30, of Baltimore, was sentenced on March 30, 2021, to eight years in federal prison, and was ordered to pay restitution of $29,234. Cedric Jonathan McNeal-Parker, 30, of Randallstown, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal mail and to mail theft and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels