ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta rapper and convicted felon will spend years in federal prison after admitting to running a mail theft and bank fraud scheme involving thousands of stolen checks worth millions of dollars.
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Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Shamarri Tache Brooks, also known by his rap name “Juney Knotzz,” was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Brooks pleaded guilty in May to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Officials said Brooks operated the scheme from at least January 2022 through November 2025, stealing checks from the mail and recruiting people through social media to use their bank accounts to deposit the stolen funds.
Prosecutors said Brooks altered the stolen checks to make cooperating account holders appear to be the intended recipients. He then deposited the checks at ATMs across the Atlanta area, often while wearing balaclava-style masks displaying the phrase “No Free Sauce.”
Authorities said Brooks also turned the scheme into a business, selling online tutorials that taught others how to commit financial fraud. The tutorials were marketed under the names “Sauce Book” and “SB.” Investigators said he also sold images of stolen checks, which were referred to as “slips.”
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Federal authorities estimate Brooks and his associates stole checks with a combined face value of more than $6.5 million.
Despite the scope of the operation, prosecutors said law enforcement recovered many of the stolen checks from Brooks’ home and found no evidence that he successfully negotiated the remaining checks.
“In addition to personally committing bank fraud, Brooks brazenly marketed and sold fraud tutorials and trafficked thousands of stolen checks worth millions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement. “Although Brooks sought to teach his followers how to commit fraud, the real lesson here is that crime does not pay.”
The FBI said Brooks built what investigators described as a criminal enterprise centered on stolen checks, compromised bank accounts and fraud training.
The Stone Mountain man has a lengthy criminal history that includes prior convictions for drug trafficking, weapons offenses, obstruction of law enforcement and battery, according to prosecutors.
Federal authorities are urging residents to protect themselves from mail theft by promptly collecting mail, using USPS Informed Delivery, mailing checks inside post offices when possible and reporting suspected fraud to their bank and law enforcement.
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