A district judge sentenced a Georgia man to 70 months in federal prison this week after he admitted to leading a check cashing conspiracy that involved stealing the identities and checks belonging to local business owners and defrauding financial institutions across central and southern Illinois.

Per a release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Traveon H. Reese, 31, of Atlanta, Ga., pled guilty in August 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Reese will serve the 70-month term of federal imprisonment following a 20-year term on similar state charges in Iowa.

According to court documents, the conspiracy occurred on several occasions in southern Illinois from March through May 2023. Conspirators stole business checks from the mail, copied the account information and printed fraudulent checks using forged signatures of the local business owners.

Reese and his conspirators then recruited individuals – often from local homeless shelters or bus terminals – to cash the fraudulent checks on their behalf. In total, members of the conspiracy attempted to cash 26 checks for an intended loss of at least $93,413.19. The actual loss suffered by the financial institutions was an estimated $46,842.47.

Among the co-defendants charged in the conspiracy was DeMarcos M. Miller, 22, of Atlanta, Ga., who pled guilty in March 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment.

The case involves entities in the Monroe County area as, per court filings, Reese and Miller at one point recruited a Mt. Vernon man, bringing him to the metro east and instructing him to pass five checks totaling over $16,111.60 at various First National Bank of Waterloo locations.