An Essex County man was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm and conspiring to defraud two banks of $250,000 using stolen credit cards and blank checks, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
According to U.S. Attorney Sellinger, Tamir Duval, 23, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon and to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On July 27, 2020, Duval unlawfully possessed a Taurus PT740 semi-automatic handgun loaded with seven hollow nose rounds of ammunition.
The firearm had been reported stolen from Gastonia, Georgia. Duval was previously convicted in Essex County Superior Court of receiving stolen property, a felony under state law.
From August 2018 through January 2020, Duval and others engaged in a scheme to use stolen credit cards and checks to fraudulently make purchases and withdraw money from two banks, leaving the banks to bear the losses of the scheme.
The credit cards and blank checks were stolen from various New Jersey-based postal facilities and never reached their intended recipients.
Duval and his conspirators used the credit cards and checks to make unauthorized purchases at various retail stores and withdraw cash from automated teller machines (ATMs) in New Jersey and elsewhere.
Duval and his conspirators altered the date, payee, and amount of the stolen checks prior to deposit. They then fraudulently withdrew money from third-party account holders’ accounts at various ATMs.
In addition to the prison term, Duval was sentenced to five years of supervised release.