FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Travis Chieng, aka Travis Chang, aka Travis My Nai, 23, of Fresno, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit postal crimes.

According to the plea agreement, Chieng conspired with three other individuals to possess counterfeit postal keys and postal mail locks. Chieng also admitted to conspiring to obtain mail stolen from community mailboxes in the Fresno area. According to the plea agreement, Chieng and his co-conspirators altered checks stolen from the mail by removing the original payee’s name from the check in order to defraud individuals or financial institutions of money or property.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Grant B. Rabenn is prosecuting the case.

Chieng is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on March 30, 2012. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California