Joseph Mo Pun Lau was arrested for stealing checks from mail deposited at the Wilton post office in early April. He is scheduled to be arraigned August 5 in Hartford.
A federal grand jury in Bridgeport indicted Lau, a 52-year-old Hong Kong national on July 27, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Hartford announced August 4. Wilton Detectives Kip Tarrant and Pete Trahan were present when Lau was arrested July 9, in Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Lau is believed to be the head of a Chinese crime gang targeting banks in New York. Lau was indicted with four counts of bank fraud, three counts of theft of mail, and one count of illegally reentering the United States after having been deported.
Lau stole more than $90,000 from the bank accounts of 48 people from Wilton, Westport, and Norwalk. If convicted, Lau, who was deported in 2007, faces a maximum prison term of 30 years on each count of bank fraud, five years on each of the mail theft counts, and 10 years for illegal reentry into the country.
This is not the first time Lau has been involved in mail theft and bank fraud. The indictment alleges he was deported from the United States in 2007 following a 2005 conviction in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for "bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, possession of United States mail keys, and theft of mail matter." He was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison. (Source: Jeannette Ross, Wiltonbulletin.com, Aug 5, 2010).