By Forum Staff
A Brooklyn man and his girlfriend have been charged with running a large-scale postal theft operation, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz recently announced.
Jamil Brown, 32, has been arraigned on a 152-count complaint charging him with criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree, eight counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree, 99 counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, 18 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, six counts of petit larceny, seven counts of attempted petit larceny, six counts of identity theft in the third degree and seven counts of attempted identity theft in the third degree.
Kadija Corke, 31, has been arraigned on a criminal complaint charging her with criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree, eight counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree and 99 counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree.
According to the charges and investigation, on or about Sept. 19, 2024, a Laurelton resident attempted to use her credit card for a purchase, but the transaction was declined. After checking her account statements, the victim saw several unrecognized and unauthorized charges to the account. Several days prior, the victim had applied for an additional credit card in her husband’s name under the same account, which she never received.
An investigation was launched into the incident by the Queens District Attorney’s Crime Strategies and Intelligence Bureau and the NYPD’s Financial Crimes Task Force. Bank records revealed that the secondary card was mailed to the victim’s address and activated on Sept. 19 using a telephone number that was later linked to Brown.
After the fraudulent activation of the victim’s credit card, six unauthorized charges were made at various retail establishments including a Party City in Queens, a liquor store in Nassau County and a convenience store in the Bronx. The card was later declined after Brown allegedly tried using it at various restaurants and retailers in Brooklyn more than five times. Video surveillance obtained by law enforcement depicted Brown at various locations conducting the alleged fraudulent purchases, and historical location information provided by court order further revealed that Brown’s cell phone was present at the locations of the alleged fraudulent transactions.
On Oct. 28, at approximately 7 a.m., law enforcement officials executed a court-authorized search warrant inside Brown’s home, where he was found with Corke and arrested.
A total of 89 credit cards, 88 debit cards, 11 public benefit cards, 18 driver’s licenses and more than a dozen checks – including those made out to the St. Clare Catholic Academy in Laurelton, a plumbing and heating small business, a member of the Excavator’s Union and several checks issued to Queens residents by the U.S. Treasury Department – were recovered from the premises. None of the documents recovered was issued in the name of either of the defendants.
The approximate sum of all the seized funds is estimated to be in excess of $125,000.
Law enforcement officials also recovered 15 mobile phones, an embossing machine, a magnetic strip reader and encoding machine, printers and check-printing stock, and other items consistent with creating false documents and credit/debit cards. The investigation further revealed that Brown placed a total of 352 telephone calls since January 2024 to toll free numbers connected to automated systems and customer service lines for EBT cards, Chase Bank, TD Bank and American Express.