BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A Birmingham man faces up to 40 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine for "fraud on customers of the U.S. Postal Service", and "fraud on the memorial fund set up to provide aid to the family of a fallen Huntsville Police officer".
The U.S. Department of Justice says that Devonte Lemond Hammonds, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of access device fraud and one count of wire fraud. According to the plea agreement, Hammonds used the identity of another person to open a bank account and transfer funds from the Billy Clardy Memorial Fund bank account to the fictitious account for his own use. Hammonds also devised a scheme to defraud customers of the U.S. Postal Service, using the USPS website to reroute mail from numerous U.S. Postal Service customers to addresses in Birmingham that he could access. He then used the rerouted mail to obtain personal identifying information of those customers, and used that information to pay bills, make purchases, and open new accounts.
The maximum penalty for access device fraud is ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for wire fraud affecting a financial institution is thirty years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Officer Billy Clardy was a Huntsville police officer and STAC agent killed in the line of duty on Dec. 6, 2019. The suspect in his killing is being held without bond.