Maurice Hildebrand, 77, of Norman, was sentenced Thursday by United States District Judge Stephen P. Friot to serve 24 months in federal prison for theft of U.S. mail, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to court records, Hildebrand maintained a Post Office Box at the North Shartel Post Office in Oklahoma City. From May of 2004 through August of 2008, Hildebrand stole mail containing checks sent by various businesses and individuals that were being placed in the mail to pay bills, make investments, or make charitable contributions. As part of his plea, Hildebrand said that he would see the envelopes protruding from mail boxes and would pull the mail out to see if it contained a check. If a check was found, he would endorse the checks making them payable to personal credit card accounts. He obtained $34,012 using this scheme.

Hildebrand was indicted in May of 2009 and pleaded guilty to 42 counts of mail theft in July of 2009. At the time of his indictment and throughout this case, Hildebrand was incarcerated serving a federal sentence stemming from a 2005 conviction in the Western District of Oklahoma for interstate transportation of stolen goods.

In the 2005 case, Hildebrand was originally sentenced to serve six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Following his release from prison, his supervised release was revoked in 2008 and he ordered back to prison to serve 23 months confinement.

At his sentencing hearing today, Judge Friot ordered Hildebrand to serve 24 months to be served consecutive to Hildebrand's completion of the 23 month sentence in the 2005 case. Hildebrand also was ordered to pay $34,012 in restitution and $4,200 in special assessment.

The case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Oklahoma City Economic and Identity Crime Task Force, including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Yancey.