Former U.S. Postal Service employee Dewayne Morris Sr. and his son, Dewayne Morris Jr., received their sentences today. Morris Sr. was sentenced to seven years in prison, while Morris Jr. received a sentence of 12.5 years. The father and son duo were involved in a scheme where they stole $5.1 million worth of postal money order forms and distributed them to their co-conspirators. This information comes from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California.
The U.S. attorney’s office stated that Morris Sr. took the money order forms from the post office he was in charge of, and then Morris Jr. distributed the forms to his co-defendants.
The office has confirmed that eight other defendants have already been sentenced for converting the stolen money orders into cash. They accomplished this by depositing the money orders in banks all across the United States.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, co-conspirators have testified that Morris Jr. provided them with money orders and counterfeit driver’s licenses. They used these resources to open bank accounts, deposit the money orders, and then make cash withdrawals.
According to the department’s confirmation, witnesses testified that Morris Jr. participated in out-of-state trips to cash the money orders and kept the majority of the proceeds, which was supported by airline records.
According to the office, it was revealed from bank records that Morris Jr. had deposited over $2 million in cash into his accounts throughout the scheme.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, the funds were utilized by him to acquire luxury vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz AMG GT. Moreover, he also indulged in lavish trips to Costa Rica, Grand Cayman, and Los Cabos, Mexico.
The department stated that Morris Jr. was also found guilty of witness tampering while on pretrial release.
The Department added that evidence included threatening text messages sent to a witness and videos showing him trying to pressure the witness into denying that they received postal money orders.