A Waukegan, Illinois man has pleaded guilty to bank fraud after admitting to traveling across state lines to open fraudulent bank accounts and deposit checks stolen from the U.S. Mail.
Terry Carter-Kilgore, 28, entered his plea on Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. According to court documents, between December 2022 and August 2024, Carter-Kilgore obtained checks that had been stolen from the mail system. He used fake driver’s licenses featuring his photo but with other people’s personal information, as well as counterfeit business documents, to open unauthorized bank accounts in Missouri and other states under names matching those on the stolen checks.
Carter-Kilgore deposited or attempted to deposit at least six stolen checks totaling $214,935 into these unauthorized accounts.
On December 21, 2022, he deposited a stolen check for $36,373 at a Florissant, Missouri bank using a fake driver’s license. On August 20, 2024, he opened another unauthorized account in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and tried to deposit another stolen check using a fraudulent Georgia driver’s license. Bank staff became suspicious and contacted the Lee’s Summit Police Department. When officers arrived at the scene, Carter-Kilgore fled but was later found hiding under a nearby home’s deck.
He admitted to police that he attempted to deposit a stolen check using false identification and said he purchased both the check and ID in Chicago.
Carter-Kilgore is scheduled for sentencing on March 9, 2026. The charge of bank fraud carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Lee’s Summit Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting.
