3 Houston USPS mail carriers, 2 others accused of check theft scheme
HOUSTON - Two Houston residents and three U.S. Postal Service mail carriers are facing federal charges after allegedly participating in a scheme to steal checks from mail routes and sell them, according to federal court documents.
5 charged in alleged mail theft scheme
What we know:
A federal grand jury in Houston returned a nine-count indictment charging Tryston Tremaine Vaughn, Alyssa Nadine Bryant, and three U.S. Postal Service mail carriers—Catherine Clauzelle Kilpatrick, Drakkor Jamar Alexander, and Malcolm Tiree Joubert.
All five defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud, according to the indictment.
Kilpatrick, Alexander, and Joubert face additional counts of theft of mail matter by a postal employee.
How the alleged scheme worked
What they're saying:
Federal prosecutors allege the conspiracy began around October 2022.
According to federal court documents, Vaughn allegedly recruited the mail carriers to steal checks from their assigned postal routes in Houston.
Vaughn and Bryant allegedly met with the postal workers to purchase the stolen checks, advertised them for sale on a Telegram channel named "slipsandchips" and shipped them to buyers across the country using FedEx.
Federal prosecutors estimate that they unlawfully acquired and sold stolen checks totaling approximately $23,973,338.15.
What we don't know:
The indictment does not identify additional unnamed co-conspirators or the buyers who purchased the checks on Telegram.
The Source: The information in this article comes from a federal indictment.