NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that, earlier today, U.S. District Court Judge Sarah S. Vance sentenced defendant JILL LEWIS (“LEWIS”), age 41, resident of Madisonville, Louisiana, to six (6) months’ home confinement and two (2) years’ probation. LEWIS previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, arising out of her involvement in a postal fraud scheme. LEWIS is also required to pay restitution in the amount of $42,749.74.
According to her guilty plea, between January 2014 and January 2016, LEWIS and her co-conspirator conspired to submit false insurance claims to the United States Postal Service (“USPS”), causing the USPS to mail reimbursement checks to LEWIS and her co-conspirator for over $42,000. In this scheme, LEWIS and her co-conspirator falsely claimed that they had purchased expensive jewelry and other items and attempted to return the items to the retailers through the mail, but the USPS had lost the items. LEWIS and her co-conspirator then submitted forged invoices to the USPS to support the reimbursement amounts. The false claims and forged documents caused the USPS to send the reimbursement checks to LEWIS and a co-conspirator through the mail.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to acknowledge the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, for its work in investigating this case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Brandon Long and Shirin Hakimzadeh.
