Five former U.S. Postal Service businesses were among 11 people charged Thursday with charges of stealing credit cards from the mail.
The 18-month conspiracy involved the postal providers stealing credit cards and other financial instruments from the mail to sell them for cash or other items, federal prosecutors said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois, two defendants even obtained the number of the people and the dates of birth of the persons’ social security numbers and dates of birth.
Prosecutors say three women from Chicago – Rebecca Okunoren (28), Monique Love (29) and Dominique Sykes (28) – are among the former postal providers accused of conspiring to steal mail and commit illegal fraud with access devices. The other two mail providers charged are Jessica Jefferson, 32, of Broadview and Myiesha Weaver, 34, of College Park, Georgia.
Six other Chicago residents are also charged with conspiracy to steal mail: Davey Hines, 28; Billye Harris, 26; Terrance Scales, 29; Stephon Johnson (33); Loreal Ross (31); and Brittnay Shepard, 28.
Hines, Harris, Johnson and Ross were also charged with fraud with unauthorized access devices and impaired identity theft, prosecutors said.
“These arrests are our commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to maintain integrity and trust in the U.S. Postal Service,” said Andre Martin, special agent in charge of the Chicago Great Lakes Area Field Office of the U.S. Postal Service. “The majority of postal workers are hard-working civil servants who dedicate themselves to moving mail to the right destination.”
Several accused were arrested Thursday and have already appeared in court, prosecutors said.
The federal investigation, called Operation Cash on Delivery, has already led to charges against five other people this past summer, including four former employees of the Postal Service.