Four separate indictments were unsealed today at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn charging five defendants with crimes related to the fraudulent theft and deposit of checks issued by the United States Department of the Treasury.  As alleged in the indictments, two of the defendants, both former United States Postal Service (USPS) employees, allegedly sold the checks which were stolen from a USPS mail facility located at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Mail Facility) where one of the defendants worked.  The other three defendants fraudulently endorsed and deposited Treasury checks that were not addressed to them.  Four of the defendants were arrested this morning and are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl.  One of the defendants remains at large.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York;  Daniel Brubaker, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, New York Division (USPIS), Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office (USPS OIG); Edward A. Caban, Commissioner, New York City Police Department, (NYPD); Michael Carpenter, Special Agent in Charge, United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Northeast Field Division (TIGTA); and Patrick J. Freaney, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service (Secret Service), announced the arrests and charges.

Read more...