North Providence man pleads guilty in connection to bank fraud conspiracy

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A North Providence man pled guilty in court on Tuesday in connection to a bank fraud conspiracy, according to Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

35-year-old Jamal Mansaray pled guilty to bank fraud conspiracy, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

According to the Department of Justice, Mansaray admitted that he “fraudulently obtained” checks issued by individuals and businesses, including stolen checks from the U.S. Mail. He also admitted that he took “identity information of third parties” to modify stolen checks, fabricate checks, and access bank accounts.

Some of the checks were issued by four Massachusetts towns and mailed to a special education contractor. According to Bloom, the checks were stolen from a mailbox used by the contractor and altered. In December 2022, surveillance video showed the defendant depositing the fraudulent checks and the withdrawal of funds at banks in Rhode Island.

Bloom said that during a court-authorized search of Mansaray’s residence in May 2023, U.S. Postal Inspection Service Inspectors seized “hundreds of personal and business checks, blank ‘washed’ checks, more than 1,000 blank check stock used to create and print counterfeit checks, multiple laptops and printers, checks in various stages of alteration, Social Security cards, debit cards, and a temporary driver’s license in the name of others.”

Additionally, a loaded firearm and ammunition was found inside a backpack inside his residence, in which he was not allowed to be in possession of due to a previous conviction, according to the DOJ. In October 2018, he was sentenced to 60 months in prison for bank fraud conspiracy and aggravated ID theft.

Mansaray is scheduled to be sentenced on July 16.