The conspiracy lasted for 18 months and the mail providers stole credit cards and other financial instruments from the mail to sell them for cash or other items, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois said.
Two of the defendants even obtained people’s social security numbers and birth dates, enabling them to activate the stolen credit cards and use them in stores including Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics, Walmart and Meijer, prosecutors said.
Three charges against the Chicago women – Rebecca Okunoren (28), Monique Love (29) and Dominique Sykes (28) – are among former mail providers accused of conspiring to steal the mail and fraudulent unauthorized access devices committed. The other two mail providers charged are 32-year-old Jessica Jefferson of Broadview and 34-year-old Myiesha Weaver of College Park, Georgia.
Six Chicago residents have also been charged with conspiracy to steal mail. They are:
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 represent 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 mail transport to the right destination.”
Prosecutors on Thursday arrested several of the accused and have already started appearing in court.
The federal investigation, called Operation Cash on Delivery, has already led to charges against five other people this past summer, including four former USPS employees.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire – Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2021.)