NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for conspiring to defraud two banks of more than $250,000 using stolen credit cards and blank checks, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Qshaun Brown-Guinyard, 27, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence today by videoconference.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From August 2018 through January 2020, Brown-Guinyard and his conspirators engaged in a scheme to use stolen credit cards and checks to fraudulently make purchases and withdraw money from two banks, leaving the banks to bear the losses of the scheme. The credit cards were stolen from facilities used by the U.S. Postal Service in Pine Brook and Warren, New Jersey. Because the cards were stolen, they never reached the intended cardholders. After obtaining the stolen cards, Brown-Guinyard and his conspirators used them to make unauthorized purchases at various retail stores and withdraw cash from automated teller machines (ATMs) in New Jersey and elsewhere.
The blank checks were also stolen from various New Jersey-based post office facilities, and never reached their intended recipients. Once obtained, Brown-Guinyard and his conspirators altered the date, payee, and amount of the stolen checks prior to deposit. He and his conspirators would then fraudulently withdraw money at various ATMs from the third-party account holders’ accounts.
Four of Brown-Guinyard’s conspirators – Nasheed Jackson, Alexander Varice, Dashawn Duncan, and Allen Varice– have previously pleaded guilty to identical informations. Jackson and Duncan were each sentenced to 24 months in prison, and Allen Varice was sentenced to 27 months in prison. Alexander Varice is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5, 2021.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced Brown-Guinyard to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $181,158.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Raimundo Marrero in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Blake Coppotelli of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.
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