JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who worked in the mailroom of VyStar Credit Union for more than two decades is accused of embezzling $5.4 million in checks intended to pay for postage, according to a federal indictment.
Duane Sikes, 64, was arrested in Bradford County Friday and charged with 10 counts of mail fraud and five counts of embezzlement. He is due to be arraigned at the U.S. District Courthouse in Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon.
According to the indictment, between from 2007-2017, some of the checks Sikes stole outright and he took others that were made out to the U.S. Postmaster to the main post office downtown and bought rolls of stamps — $3.6 million worth of stamps — and sold them to Mystic Stamp Company in New York. Mystic turned around and sold the stamps for 80 percent of their face value.
Mystic’s president, Don Sundman, said they were suspicious and notified the U.S. Postal Service.
“We just wanted to make sure that everything was on the up and up,” Sundman told News4Jax. “They said, ‘We’ll check into it,’ and they came back to us sometime later and said it’s fine.”
Sikes worked at the corporate headquarters of VyStar in Jacksonville from 1994 to 2017. More at News 4 Jax
Oh, wait it’s not the U S Postal Service – jeez bud the very first sentence said the money was stolen from VyStar Credit Union
Article states…”some of the checks Sikes stole outright and he took others that were made out to the U.S. Postmaster to the main post office downtown and bought rolls of stamps — $3.6 million worth of stamps — and sold them to Mystic Stamp Company in New York
How does he steal 5.4 MILLION before it’s noticed! Oh, wait, it’s the United States Postal Service.