Woman Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for Theft of Mail and Aggravated Identity Theft

FORT WAYNE – Erin Clowser, 35 years old, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Theresa L. Springmann after pleading guilty to Theft of Mail, Access Devise Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, announced U.S. Attorney Kirsch.

Clowser was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 51 months followed by 1 year of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution to the victims of her crime in the total amount of $53,005.82.  As part of her sentence, Clowser agreed to forfeit to the United States items obtained from her illegal conduct, which included a 2002 Mercedes Benz S500, assorted electronic and computer equipment and purses. 

According to documents filed in the case, from November 2016 and continuing through June 2017, Clowser stole mail from various residential mailboxes in the Fort Wayne area.  She also used personal information of an individual without their authorization to obtain a debit card which she then used to make purchases at retail establishments and make withdraws from automatic teller machines.

This case was a joint investigation by the United States Postal Inspection Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the Allen County Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stacey R. Speith.