Marion man convicted in postage fraud is banned from exporting

A Marion man, convicted in 2021 for forging and counterfeiting over $250,000 in postage meter stamps and violating export laws while operating his home eBay business, will not be allowed to export products for seven years.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which administers and enforces federal export regulations, made the ruling after reviewing the conviction of Bradley Jon Matheny, 44,

The charges against him included three counts of export violations for making false statements about items being exported to Israel and South Africa and seven counts of forging and counterfeiting more than $250,000 in postage.

Matheny, operating his eBay business as “Mathenys” from his Marion home, was convicted of “smuggling” .117-caliber hunting pellets from the U.S. to Arad, Israel, and two Winchester 42-piece firearm brush-cleaning kits from the U.S. to Sderot, Israel, and Scottsville, South Africa, according to the bureau’s Office of Exporter Services review.

U.S. District Chief Judge Leonard Strand, in the 2021 bench trial — non-jury — verdict, said Matheny shipped packages with false mailing labels that identified the contents as “gifts” worth $1.90 instead of merchandise valued at much more.

This evidence showed it was part of his “overall scheme to ship goods in a deceptive manner.” The items would slip through customs more easily and not be subject to tax, according to court documents.

The statute for the export violation makes it a crime to “fraudulently or knowingly” export any article or item contrary to any law or regulation of the United States, Strand stated in the verdict.

The bureau issued its decision Wednesday to deny Matheny his export privileges for seven years, in accordance with the Export Control Reform Act. The bureau also said it would revoke Matheny’s export-related licenses, if he had any when convicted.

Fake postage

Matheny, in the criminal case, also was found guilty of seven counts of forging and counterfeiting more than $250,000 in postage. According to evidence at trial, his business sold retail goods to individuals in the United States and internationally.

Postage costs were a significant expense in his business. Matheny, for example, shipped more than 28,000 packages in 2015 through the U.S. Postal Service.

To cut his costs and boost profit, Matheny used forged and counterfeited postage meter stamps on many of the packages he sent to customers between 2013 and 2017, according to court documents.

In 2015, postal employees at the Cedar Rapids Main Post Office became suspicious of Matheny’s mailing practices because he would drop off his packages late in the evening at the post office dock, which left no time for employees to inspect the packages, according to Strand’s verdict. The employees usually had to transfer packages from Matheny’s truck to the postal truck headed to the airport.

Officials at the post office eventually contacted the U.S. Postal Inspection Service about the possibility that Matheny might be falsifying postage for his eBay business, according to court documents.

A review of Matheny’s packages in late 2015 revealed that most of packages had either insufficient postage or a forged or counterfeited postage meter stamp. Reviews in 2016 and 2017 showed similar results.

In 2017, law enforcement obtained a federal search warrant for Matheny’s residence. During the search, they found a large number of unusual paper clippings of partial Priority Mail and First Class postage meter stamps, along with a handwritten list of crossed-out Priority Mail tracking numbers.

On Matheny’s computer, law enforcement also found a number of the unaltered electronic versions of the forged postage meter stamps in question, according to court documents.

At Matheny’s sentencing, a postal inspector testified that the face value of the counterfeited and forged postage that Matheny manufactured between 2013 and 2017 exceeded $380,000.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Matheny to three years in federal prison and fined him $10,000. He also must pay $192,330 in restitution to the U.S. Postal Service, according to an amended sentencing order filed in February.

Matheny is now in the residential reentry management facility in Minneapolis. He has a release date of Nov. 29, according the Bureau of Prisons.

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