A U.S. Postal Service worker and two others have been charged in a scheme to steal $24 million in checks from the mail and offer them for sale online, federal prosecutors said.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina said in a statement that the checks were sold via a Telegram channel.
Postal Service worker Nakedra Shannon, 29, worked at a processing center in Charlotte for about two years and stole the checks from April to July of this year, prosecutors said.
Charges were also brought against two other people described by the US Attorney’s Office as conspirators: Donnell Gardner (27 years old) and Desiree Carter (24 years old).
Carter ran the “OG Glass House” Telegram channel that advertised the sale of checks, according to the indictment. His name on the messaging app was “SW1PER.”
Gardner would then send the checks, according to the indictment, and the money would be split, with half going to Carter and Shannon and Gardner getting the other half, the document says.
The undercover officers posed as buyers and Carter directed them to a CashApp account and a Bitcoin wallet, the indictment says.
Of the approximately $24 million in stolen checks, $8 million were checks from the U.S. Treasury Department, according to the indictment.
All three were arrested this week and released on conditions, court records show.
Shannon’s attorney declined to comment, and Carter’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday evening. The attorney does not appear to be on Gardner’s list.
The US Attorney’s Office said the three made “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from the illegal venture.
The three are charged with conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud and five counts of theft of government property, the office said.
She added that Carter and Gardner are also charged with seven counts of possession of stolen mail, and Shannon is charged with eight counts of theft of mail by a postal employee.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
