“For more than two years, Michael Edwards criminally utilized the U.S. mail system to steal millions of dollars from Americans who rely on it by obtaining postal keys, stealing thousands of checks from the mail, washing those checks, and depositing the fraudulent checks or posting them for sale on Telegram,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “Even after his arrest, Edwards kept operating his illicit business on Telegram and obstructed justice by deleting his Telegram posts. Today’s prison sentence is indicative of the result awaiting those who breach the U.S. mail system to steal from everyday Americans.”

According to the charging documents and other filings and statements made in court proceedings:

Between approximately January 2022 and July 2024, EDWARDS orchestrated a scheme to steal millions of dollars in checks from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes in New York and elsewhere.  As part of the scheme, EDWARDS coordinated with others to purchase postal keys that would unlock collection boxes in affluent neighborhoods in Manhattan.  After the checks were stolen, EDWARDS and his co-conspirators fraudulently altered the payees and, in some instances, the check amounts.  EDWARDS also coordinated with and directed others to recruit third parties to provide their bank account information, and supervised the deposit of millions of dollars in fraudulently altered checks into bank accounts in Connecticut, Florida, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

EDWARDS was arrested in July 2023 after New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officers caught EDWARDS and a co-conspirator stealing mail, during which EDWARDS and the co-conspirator nearly struck an NYPD officer while fleeing in their getaway vehicle.  Even after his arrest, EDWARDS continued to perpetrate his fraud scheme, including by posting approximately $32 million in stolen checks on his Telegram channel “Only1Giela.”

In August 2024, shortly after EDWARDS was charged with continuing to commit crimes on pre-trial release based in part on evidence found on his Telegram channel, EDWARDS obstructed justice by deleting the contents of his Telegram channel.

Ultimately, EDWARDS’ fraud scheme involved more than 2,600 stolen checks and resulted in a total intended loss of more than $55 million, of which more than $18 million was deposited into co-conspirator accounts.

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In addition to the prison term, EDWARDS, 31, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, ordered to forfeit $18,840,084.45, and ordered to pay restitution.

Mr. McDonald praised the outstanding investigative work of the USPIS.  Mr. McDonald also thanked the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD for their assistance with the investigation.

The case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jerry J. Fang and William K. Stone are in charge of the prosecution.

According to the criminal complaint, in October 2025, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service launched multiple investigations into the robberies of nine letter carriers in Erie and Niagara Counties for their specialized postal keys, which are used to access blue mail collection boxes.

On December 5, 2025, Niagara Falls Police officers and Postal Inspectors responded to the scene of a letter carrier who was robbed of her postal key on Forest Avenue. The letter carrier was approached by an unknown black male wearing a neck warmer pulled up to mask much of his face. The man had his hands in his front hoodie pocket and pointed the pocket toward the letter carrier, causing her to believe the individual had a weapon pointed at her. The man demanded, “give me that gold key,” which she understood to mean her postal key. She gave the man her key, and he then ran off. The stolen key could be used to gain access to all blue collection boxes located in the Niagara Falls area.

In the early morning hours of October 5, 2026, investigators were conducting surveillance of the La Salle Post Office in Niagara Falls, when inspectors received notification that the collection box outside the Main Street Post Office in Niagara Falls had been accessed. At approximately 2:35 a.m., law enforcement observed a silver-colored vehicle, with a burned-out driver side taillight, park near the La Salle Post Office. Two suspects exited the vehicle with a large black bag. Security surveillance video showed a third suspect seated in the front passenger seat. The first two suspects approached the collection box outside the La Salle Post Office, one suspect held back, appearing to act as a lookout, while the other suspect accessed the drive-up collection box. Security surveillance video captured the suspect as he appeared to use a key to open the lower employee access panel to the box and remove all of the mail from the white flat tub contained in the bottom of the box, loading all of the mail into a backpack. As the two suspects started heading back to their vehicle, Inspectors and Niagara Falls Police officers quickly moved in with vehicles and on foot. The two suspects briefly attempted to flee but were quickly apprehended along with the third suspect. La enforcement recovered the backpack full of mail and the postal key, which had been stolen from the postal carrier in December 2025.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Franz M. Wright. The complaint is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector-in-Charge Justin Page, Boston Division and the Niagara Falls Police Department, under the direction of Chief Nick Ligammari.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Florida: David Armeda, 38, was charged with criminal mischief and removing mail from a depo or a carrier.

Lottery winner mailed winning ticket to relative for funeral expenses, authorities say

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — A United States Postal Service employee from Broward County is facing multiple felony charges after investigators say she stole a winning Florida Lottery ticket from the mail and fraudulently claimed a $2,600 prize.

According to the Florida Lottery, the case stemmed from a joint investigation by the agency’s Division of Security and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

Investigators said the investigation began after a Florida Lottery player reported that a winning Pick 4 ticket she mailed through the U.S. Postal Service never arrived at its intended destination.

According to an arrest report, the winning ticket was purchased at a Publix store in Tampa and was worth $2,600. Because the prize exceeded the $599 maximum payout that can be claimed at a lottery retailer, the terminal instructed that the ticket be returned to the player, investigators said.

They said the winner later mailed the ticket to a relative in Fort Lauderdale to help pay for another person’s funeral expenses, but the ticket was never successfully delivered.

A Florida Lottery inspector determined the ticket was instead redeemed June 19 at the Florida Lottery’s Miami District Office by 28-year-old Lakaysha Kenya Lockhart. Investigators later identified Lockhart as a USPS letter carrier assigned to the Oakland Park post office.

According to her arrest report, Lockhart, who has listed addresses in Lauderhill and Hollywood, “was not known to, approved or authorized by the ticket owner” to redeem the winning ticket.

Authorities said Florida Lottery special agents and USPS OIG investigators conducted a joint operation that led to Lockhart’s arrest on July 23. They said Lockhart admitted after her arrest to stealing the winning lottery ticket and redeeming it at the Miami District office. Read more

U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine sentenced Isaiah W. Douglas, 25, of Champaign, Ill. to 39 months in prison, Luis A. Franco-Gonzalez, 26, of Rantoul, Ill., to 34 months in prison and Isaiah B. Handford, 28, to 33 months.

Douglas and others stole checks, or caused them to be stolen, from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes in and around St. Louis. Handford and Franco-Gonzalez then posed as representatives of the victim businesses and opened or tried to open bank accounts with fraudulent documents supplied by Douglas.

On June 12, 2023, Handford entered a St. Louis bank and applied to open a business account by falsely claiming that he was an owner and registered agent of one of the victim businesses. Suspicious bank officials refused to open the account. That same day, Franco-Gonzalez was successful in opening an account at a different bank in Chesterfield and depositing a $312,677 check.

The following day, Franco-Gonzalez unsuccessfully tried to open an account at a bank in Creve Coeur before fleeing the bank on foot. Police arrested Handford in a getaway car close to the bank and then found and arrested Franco-Gonzalez in a Ford Explorer in the parking lot of a nearby hotel. The Explorer contained a handgun and fraudulent paperwork in the name of one of the victims. Officers found Douglas at the hotel, carrying a backpack and a duffel bag that contained more fraudulent paperwork, a handgun and 53 loose checks, money orders, and envelopes that had been stolen from collection boxes. In hotel rooms used by the conspirators, police found more stolen mail and an additional stolen check.

Douglas and his co-defendants admitted that they intended to cause a loss of at least $581,123, based on the value of stolen checks deposited into unauthorized business accounts and the stolen checks recovered by police. They ultimately failed to make any money from the scheme, however.

The case is the latest prosecution of those responsible for mail theft and whose conduct takes advantage of the public’s reliance on a vital government service, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow wrote in sentencing memo.

“The sentencing in this case illustrates that individuals who engage in mail theft will be held accountable for their actions,” stated Inspector in Charge, Nicholas Bucciarelli, who leads the Chicago Division, which includes the St. Louis Domicile Office. “The Postal Inspection Service is proud to work with our local, state, and federal partners to bring mail theft perpetrators to justice and prevent financial crimes targeting local citizens, postal customers, and financial institutions.”

Douglas pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of possession of stolen mail matter. Franco-Gonzalez and Handford pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.

The Creve Coeur Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.

USPS News Link 9/30/26 – A U.S. Treasury check-stealing scheme at the Postal Service’s New York International Service Center at John F. Kennedy Airport has landed two former USPS employees in prison.

In 2023, a U.S. bank reported that 1,500 checks it had mailed were never delivered to the intended recipients. The bank said the checks, valued at $700,000, were fraudulently cashed, and filed complaints with the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General, or OIG, as well as the Postal Inspection Service and the New York City Police Department.

OIG special agents initiated an investigation.

The break in the case came when NYPD officers made a routine traffic stop of an off-duty USPS employee. When they searched his vehicle, they found a loaded firearm and a $225,000 Treasury check made out to a Hong Kong resident.

OIG special agents, along with investigators from the U.S. Secret Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that the suspect was a mail processing clerk at the JFK international service center. This facility processes half of the country’s international mail, and the employee had unfettered access to checks moving into and out of the country.

A search of his residence turned up 11 Treasury checks and five bank-issued checks — none of which were addressed to him — and nearly $5,000 in cash.

OIG agents and postal inspectors found that the processing clerk had been stealing Treasury checks from the JFK facility and teaming with another USPS employee to sell them through social media for a portion of their face value. Three other co-conspirators not employed by the Postal Service were falsely endorsing the checks, depositing them into a bank account and then withdrawing the proceeds.

The two now-former USPS employees had stolen and sold 125 checks valued at $4.5 million. They were charged with conspiring to steal government funds, theft of government funds and possession of stolen mail. The processing clerk was also charged with theft of mail by a Postal Service employee.

The clerk was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000, while the other USPS employee was given a one-year sentence and ordered to forfeit $58,000.

The other three co-conspirators were charged in separate cases for fraudulently depositing the stolen checks. Two of them received prison time and were ordered to pay back $82,000. The third is awaiting sentencing.

“[These sentences] will serve as a reminder that there are severe consequences when individuals commit crimes targeting the U.S. Mail,” said Matthew Modafferi, OIG special agent in charge.

The OIG recently highlighted the case on its website.

If you suspect or know of mail theft or check fraud involving USPS employees or contractors, report it to the OIG.

As alleged in court documents, in 2024, the Connecticut Organized Financial Fraud Task Force began an investigation after learning that several social security checks issued to individuals in Connecticut and New York had been stolen from the mail.  The investigation revealed that more than 100 stolen U.S. Treasury checks with a total value of several hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into the bank account of one individual.  Rival had exchanged Apple Cash payments with the bank account holder, and was identified as a participant in a conspiracy to acquire checks stolen from the mail, “wash” or alter the named payee on the checks, deposit them into bank accounts of individuals they recruited, and withdraw the stolen funds at ATMs, through mobile apps, by making purchases at stores with cash back capabilities, or by using debit cards to purchase U.S. Postal Service money orders.  Analysis of Rival’s social media accounts has revealed included numerous photos of Rival in possession of large amounts of cash stolen during the scheme.

On September 16, 2026, Rival was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with bank fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years, theft or possession of stolen mail, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, and aggravated identity theft, an offense that carries a mandatory consecutive term of imprisonment of two years.  He is currently released on a $200,000 bond.

This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Connecticut Organized Financial Fraud Task Force (CUTOFF), the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Office of the Inspector General, and the Stamford Police Department.  The CUTOFF Task Force includes personnel from the Stamford, Westport, West Haven, and Bridgeport Police Departments.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel E. Cummings.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”).  The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people.  The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

As alleged in court documents, in 2024, the Connecticut Organized Financial Fraud Task Force began an investigation after learning that several social security checks issued to individuals in Connecticut and New York had been stolen from the mail.  The investigation revealed that more than 100 stolen U.S. Treasury checks with a total value of several hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into the bank account of one individual.  Rival had exchanged Apple Cash payments with the bank account holder, and was identified as a participant in a conspiracy to acquire checks stolen from the mail, “wash” or alter the named payee on the checks, deposit them into bank accounts of individuals they recruited, and withdraw the stolen funds at ATMs, through mobile apps, by making purchases at stores with cash back capabilities, or by using debit cards to purchase U.S. Postal Service money orders.  Analysis of Rival’s social media accounts has revealed included numerous photos of Rival in possession of large amounts of cash stolen during the scheme.

On September 16, 2026, Rival was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with bank fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years, theft or possession of stolen mail, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, and aggravated identity theft, an offense that carries a mandatory consecutive term of imprisonment of two years.  He is currently released on a $200,000 bond.

This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Connecticut Organized Financial Fraud Task Force (CUTOFF), the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Office of the Inspector General, and the Stamford Police Department.  The CUTOFF Task Force includes personnel from the Stamford, Westport, West Haven, and Bridgeport Police Departments.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel E. Cummings.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”).  The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people.  The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “Our citizens deserve to be able to rely upon the U.S. Postal Service to quickly, efficiently, and securely deliver the mail, but this former postal employee violated the position of trust she occupied to enrich herself and her accomplish. Thanks to the excellent investigative work by the USPIS and Postal Inspector General, with support from our local law enforcement partners, these criminals are being sent to federal prison.”

Court documents reflect that between March 11, 2021, and May 21, 2024, Smith was employed by the United States Postal Service, in Tallahassee, Florida. Due to her employment, Smith had access to a postal key, which she stole and gave to her co-defendant, Williams. Together, Smith and Williams conspired to steal U.S. Mail, which included stealing mailed checks that they fraudulently deposited in financial institutions and thereafter split the proceeds of their scheme. Court records also show that Smith fraudulently received and used online bank login credentials of other individuals as part of the conspiracy.

“Individuals who engage in crimes that violate the laws protecting the United States mail, whether employees or non-employees, will be pursued by the Postal Inspection Service alongside our state, local and federal partners,” said Bladismir Rojo, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Miami Division. “These federal prison sentences should serve as a warning to criminals who consider mail theft and check fraud a lucrative endeavor.”

This case was jointly investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the United States Postal Service – Office of Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric K. Mountin.

Read PENs previous coverage