Portland Man Sentenced to 55 Months in Federal Prison for Mail Theft, Identity Theft Scheme
A 43-year-old Portland man has been sentenced to 55 months in federal prison for stealing hundreds of pieces of mail, using stolen personal information to commit bank fraud and possessing counterfeit U.S. Postal Service keys.
Michael John Peters was sentenced to four years and seven months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to possession of stolen mail, possession of counterfeit postal service arrow keys, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The court also ordered Peters to pay $30,079 in restitution to victims and a $400 special assessment.
According to court documents, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service began investigating a series of mail thefts in May 2025 involving apartment and condominium buildings throughout the Portland metropolitan area. Surveillance footage showed Peters entering secured residential buildings, using counterfeit postal service keys to open cluster mailboxes and stealing mail.
On July 8, 2025, security personnel confronted Peters while he was attempting another mail theft. He fled, abandoning a backpack containing counterfeit postal service keys, stolen mail belonging to multiple victims and a device used to access secured buildings.
Investigators determined that Peters used personal information obtained from stolen mail to commit identity theft and bank fraud. In one case, he opened a checking account using a victim’s identity and secured a $20,000 loan from a financial institution. He also submitted additional fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $100,000 from various financial institutions.
On Sept. 22, 2025, postal inspectors executed a federal search warrant at an apartment Peters had rented using another person’s identity.
When authorities arrived, a tenant reported that Peters jumped from an upper-floor balcony onto the tenant’s 12th-floor balcony, ran through the apartment and escaped down a stairwell.
During the search, investigators recovered approximately 393 pieces of stolen mail, 22 identification cards, 15 gift cards, 15 debit and credit cards, counterfeit identification documents and equipment used to manufacture counterfeit keys and fraudulent identification cards.
The seized equipment included 3D printers, a key-cutting machine, credit card readers, silicone key molds and other tools investigators said were used to carry out the scheme.
Peters was later arrested at the residence of a romantic partner. Investigators recovered additional evidence of the identity theft operation from his cellular phones.
Court records also show that Peters had prior convictions for similar offenses in Hawaii and California and was on probation in both jurisdictions when he committed the Oregon crimes.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Portland Police Bureau and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Narus prosecuted the case for the District of Oregon.
