MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WRBL) – On April 26, 2022, Charles Andre Turner, 54, of Eufaula, Alabama, received 44 months in prison for aggravated identity theft, bank fraud, and stealing mail, announced U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Stewart.

In addition to Turner’s prison sentence, he must serve three years of supervised release.

Based on court documents and information revealed during Turner’s sentence hearing, he already had a previous conviction in 2011 for destroying letterboxes, stealing mail, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

His previous conviction resulted in a 94-month prison sentence. After serving time in prison, Turner was under supervised release when his U.S. Probation Officer uncovered that he had set up 33 new lines of credit, violating the terms of supervised release.

As a result, on May 10, 2021, authorities searched Turner’s residence and located more than 100 pieces of stolen mail and notes detailing victims’ identities and credit cards or banking information.

Further investigation uncovered that from October 2020 through May 2021, Turner stole mail from a post office located in Columbus, Georgia. Turner used identity and financial information from the mail to acquire credit cards, open bank accounts, and conduct financial transactions resulting in his benefit.

Turner even possessed a victim’s Experian credit report and recorded the answers to the victim’s multiple-choice security questions. He also changed another victim’s retirement account statement to make his name appear on the account instead of the victim’s name.

Turner’s method used a victim’s identity to open a bank account and deposit another victim’s credit card convenience checks into the newly opened bank account. Through his method, Turner stole over $50,000 from a victim’s bank account.

On Jan. 6, 2022, Turner pled guilty to possessing stolen mail, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, and Sumter County Sheriff’s Office investigated Turner’s case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan A. Kirkpatrick prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.