BOSTON — A Chelsea man was sentenced Friday in federal court in Boston for his role in a scheme involving checks stolen from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes, that were then altered with chemicals and deposited into accounts controlled by the conspirators.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, on April 10, 2026, Josman Romero-Delgado, 24, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to time served — approximately four months in prison — and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $39,157 in restitution.
Romero-Delgado pleaded guilty in November 2025 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to steal and possess stolen mail.
Federal prosecutors say Romero-Delgado and his co-conspirators stole mail in search of checks from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes from at least June 2023 through February 2024. The co-conspirators then used commercially available chemicals to wash the handwritten ink from the stolen checks, then reissued them to other co-conspirators or deposited them into accounts they controlled.
After the altered checks were deposited, prosecutors say Romero-Delgado and others withdrew cash from ATMs or purchased money orders with the fraudulently obtained funds. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said a review of co-conspirators’ cellphones showed they had worked together to advance “this criminal scheme.”
U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division Thomas A. Greco, and Acting Inspector in Charge for the Boston Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Jason Buckley announced the sentence. The Boston and Wellesley police departments assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lucy Sun and Philip C. Cheng prosecuted the case.