Baltimore man pleads guilty to $400,000 mail fraud

Federal prosecutors say a 44-year-old Baltimore man has pleaded guilty in a decades-long identity theft scheme involving $400,000 stolen in the last year.

Authorities say Joseph Lawrence joined a conspiracy to steal mail and create fraudulent identifications and businesses since the 1980s. Prosecutors say the conspirators acquired Social Security numbers of victims and started receiving checks made out to the victims.

Lawrence alone is responsible for $400,000 stolen in the last year. Prosecutors say the conspirators cashed dozens of checks worth more than $5,000 and hundreds worth more than $1,500.

Lawrence, who pleaded guilty in federal court Friday, will be sentenced in January.