4 Midlands residents sent to federal prison in mail fraud case

Four Midlands area residents who admitted stealing checks from mailboxes were sentenced to federal prison and fines, U.S. attorney Bill Nettles said Wednesday.

Johnnie Wayne Martin, III, 50, of Lexington; Sandra Kay Cheeks, 48, of Lexington; Brodie Kale Sexton, 39, of Columbia; and Brandy Michelle Mitchell, 36, of Lexington committed their crimes over five months in 2014.

From July through November 2014, they removed checks from mail boxes and changed the value and the name of the payee, Nettles said.

Martin was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and three years probation and ordered to pay $7,616.79 in restitution. Cheeks was sentenced to two years in prison and one year probation and ordered to pay $1,044.28 in restitution.

Sexton was sentenced to two years in prison and one year probation and ordered to pay $1,264.76 in restitution. Mitchell was sentenced to 10 months in prison and five years probation and ordered to pay $302.69 in restitution.

The crime was investigated by the Columbia field office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.