$400,000 Postal Stamp Scammer Sentenced In Florida

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - A man was sentenced in Tampa federal court to six years and six months in federal prison for a $400,000 nationwide postal stamp scam, officials said.

Edward Morgan, 49, was sentenced Wednesday, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in September 2019 to the theft of government funds. As part of his sentence, Morgan must repay $405,935.76, the proceeds of the theft.

From November 2016 until his May 2019 arrest in New Mexico, Morgan used fictitious checks to purchase stamps at hundreds of United States Post Office locations in Florida and other states, prosecutors said. Other post offices were located in Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Prosecutors said Morgan resold the stamps to unsuspecting third parties, usually businesses or stamp traders. Morgan often posed as a business professional during his visits to the post offices, investigators said. During the course of the scheme, Morgan used the personal identifying information of a deceased person, as well as the fictitious names Edward Carrera and Edward Croce.