OIG 10/28/26 – Prince George’s County Police Department had been investigating a known fraudster in Maryland suspected of negotiating fraudulent checks, when a large check scheme was uncovered and an unlikely suspect emerged: a U.S. Postal Service employee. 

The involvement of a postal employee could explain how the ring got access to hundreds of personal and business checks that victims reported as being stolen from the mail. When USPS OIG special agents joined the investigation, they identified a mail handler at a large postal facility in Capitol Heights as the likely supplier of stolen mail. 

The fraudster heading the scheme was allegedly running a complex operation: On one hand, she acted as a broker selling stolen checks to other fraud rings around the country. But she also negotiated some of the stolen checks through her own theft ring, which included her sister and other co-conspirators who acted as “mules” depositing, transferring, and withdrawing funds from various bank accounts. 

As local police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service pursued their leads, OIG special agents uncovered hundreds of stolen checks the postal employee sold to the ringleader, whom investigators later found had also stolen checks directly from blue collection boxes. The conspiracy wound up victimizing over 900 people and businesses across the country. Had banks not flagged and stopped many of the fraudulent transactions, the total losses would have surpassed $5 million. 

When law enforcement executed a search warrant at the ringleader’s home, they found the loot the fraud was funding — nearly $25,000 worth of high-end jewelry, a luxury sports car valued at almost $115,000, and over a dozen designer handbags, one of which had over 150 stolen checks inside worth more than $610,000. 

Investigators arrested and charged the ringleader, her sister, the mail handler, and two other accomplices. After the five pleaded guilty, the ringleader was sentenced to over nine years in federal prison, the mail handler was sentenced to almost three years’ imprisonment, and the other three were given a combined eight years’ jail time. The five were also ordered to pay victims back a combined almost $490,000. 

If you suspect or know of mail theft involving Postal Service employees or contractors, please report it to our Hotline. Your tip could be eligible for the OIG’s Reward for Information Program.