HOUSTON — A Houston man is headed to federal prison after being convicted of bank fraud.
U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks sentenced Rhett Dean Stringer, 44, to eight years and nine months in prison after he pleaded guilty in February 2022.
U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said when Stringer was arrested on three different occasions, he was found in possession of checks that were stolen from the mail.
Authorities also recovered fake IDs with the names and personal information of others but with Stringer’s photo. They also found credit cards with other names and more stolen mail items.
At the time of his last arrest, Stringer was found with 1,000 stolen checks totaling more than $2.6 million. The checks he cashed totaled nearly $8,000.
During the court hearing, details on Springer’s nine previous felony convictions were revealed.
“Stringer, a serial mail thief and habitual criminal, possessed over 1,000 stolen checks,” said Hamdani. “One hundred and five months in a federal prison is wholly appropriate for the thousand times he decided to steal from the mail, violating an important and sacred trust, one as old as America - a trust in the U.S. mails.”
Stringer is ordered to pay restitution of $1,475 to Amegy Bank and $6,515.27 to Wells Fargo.
He also has to serve five years of supervised release following his sentence.
