Baltimore Man Sentenced To Seven Years In Federal Prison For Bank Fraud

Press Release

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Allen Lamin, a/k/a “Allen Simon”, age 33, of Baltimore, Maryland, to seven years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for bank fraud.      

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Postal Inspector in Charge Daniel A. Adame of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division.

Lamin pled guilty to the indictment, which charged him with five counts of depositing fraudulently altered postal money orders at financial institutions.  As proven by the Government at sentencing, between February 2019 and April 2020, Lamin stole blank postal money orders from at least five different Maryland United States Post Offices and one Georgia United States Post Office on at least seven occasions. After each theft, Lamin used printers to alter the money orders to reflect high-dollar amounts, most frequently in the amounts of $800 and $1,000. Then, Lamin deposited the fraudulent money orders into accounts that he controlled at financial institutions. These bank accounts were in the names of real persons or fictitious entities.

As part of his scheme to defraud, Lamin commonly entered post office locations posing as a customer in need of general mail services. For example, on December 3, 2019, Lamin entered the post office and asked for a forwarding card. Lamin then returned to the counter, said that he would not be submitting the forwarding card, and asked to purchase a $20 money order with cash. After purchasing the postal money, Lamin asked the employee if there were any moving boxes in the back. Once the employee left, Lamin stole blank postal money orders from behind the counter. The witness employee noticed the theft an hour later when a customer came in and requested to purchase a postal money order. Lamin was caught on surveillance camera employing the same scheme on two separate occasions at another post office in Maryland.


Law enforcement executed search warrants at two of Lamin’s residences located in Baltimore City and Gwynn Oak, Maryland.  Following execution of these two search warrants, Lamin fled Maryland and was subsequently arrested in Dallas, Texas, on May 20, 2020.  During searches of Lamin’s two Maryland residences and his Dallas residence, agents recovered several pieces of evidence, including stolen postal money orders with misprinted fraudulent information, blank stolen money orders, and receipts for the deposit of blank stolen money orders, that tied Lamin to other postal money order thefts at post offices in Maryland and Georgia.  At the residences, agents also recovered bank statements, fraudulent drivers’ licenses displaying Lamin’s photograph and the personal identifying information of victims, and credit and debit cards in the names of victims.


During the course of the conspiracy, Lamin and his coconspirators negotiated $392,500.72 in stolen money orders.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the USPIS for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Rajeev R. Raghavan, who prosecuted the case.

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