Feds: Bronx man pleads guilty in stealing checks from N.J. and CT

A Bronx, N.Y., man admitted Thursday to his role in a scheme to steal checks across New Jersey and Connecticut, according to federal prosecutors.

Alique Jordan Clarke, 21, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to receive and possess stolen mail, according to Philip Sellinger, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

Clarke’s charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years as well as up to a $1 million fine. The conspiracy to receive and possess stolen mail has a maximum prison sentence of five years and up to a $250,000 fine, Sellinger said.

Clarke is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 8.

From February to November 2020, Clarke and two conspirators, identified as Nigel Lynch of Yonkers, N.Y. and Claude Burnett of the Bronx, N.Y., stole 294 checks totaling almost $1.3 million from residents in New Jersey and Connecticut,

according to a criminal complaint filed in May 2021.

Clarke, Lynch and Burnett would steal these checks from mailboxes, alter the stolen checks and deposit the checks into their own bank accounts. The trio would steal from the mailboxes using rental cars, the complaint states.

Though most of the thefts took place in New Jersey, the three stole checks from Westport and Fairfield in August 2020, according to the complaint.

On Aug. 12, 2020, one victim mailed a check near his Westport home. Video surveillance from a bank showed Clarke and Burnett depositing the altered check into an account and withdrawing funds, the complaint states.

Two others mailed a check in a curbside mailbox near their Fairfield home that same day. The check was stolen and, on Aug. 18, was deposited into a bank account. Video footage from a bank in Fort Lee, N.J. showed Clarke,

Lynch and Burnette depositing the stolen and altered check, according to the complaint.