A Joplin man is sentenced to federal prison for using stolen mail to commit bank fraud.

 

 28-year-old Aaron Blake pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud and identity theft in February. This week, he received a sentence of three years and seven months from a federal judge in the case.

 

Blake's co-defendant 31-year-old Emily Anna-Lee Sturgis entered a guilty plea in July to charges of conspiracy and bank fraud. She currently awaits sentencing.

 

The U. S. Attorney's Office says Sturgis and Blake admitted to stealing mail from residential mailboxes and off of porches in Joplin in December 202 and January 2023. The pair then used the stolen information to open credit card and bank accounts under the stolen names.

 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark and was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Carthage Police Department, and the Jasper County Sheriff's Office.