Former Post Office manager sentenced to 3-plus years for stealing business checks

The former customer service manager at the New Augusta Post Office on the northwest side of Indianapolis has been sentenced to 40 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail theft.

James Lancaster, 42, of Indianapolis stole more than 270 pieces of mail from the U.S. Postal Service between May 2020 and June 2021, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday in reporting the sentencing. The stolen mail contained checks from more than 50 different local businesses worth a total of $1.7 million, investigators said.

Lancaster gave the stolen checks to co-conspirator Jordan McPhearson, sometimes receiving cash in exchange. McPhearson deposited them into an account belonging to someone other than the intended payee.

McPhearson also provided some stolen checks to an additional co-conspirator, Lavaris Yarbrough, of Calumet City, Illinois.

McPhearson, of Blue Island, Illinois, was sentenced to 42 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Both Lancaster and McPhearson were sentenced to three years of probation following their release from prison. They were also ordered to pay $88,376 in restitution.

Yarbrough is scheduled to be sentenced in late September.

The case was investigated by the USPS Office of Inspector General and the  U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The sentences were imposed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt and Judge Sarah Evans Barker.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Eakman prosecuted the case.