Postal employee, 4 others indicted in $590K theft of Treasury checks

By Joel Provano

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A U.S. Postal Service worker is among five people indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of  stealing U.S. Treasury checks from an Atlanta-area mail distribution center.

Deborah Fambro-Echols, 49, of Hapeville, who worked as a mail handler at the Atlanta Processing and Distribution Center, is accused of stealing more than a half-million dollars' worth of checks during a two-week period in April 2011, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta announced Thursday.

Also named in the indictment are Wendy B. Frasier, 34, of Atlanta; Daralyn M. Weaver, 30, of Atlanta; Jabril O. McKee, 24, of Fairburn, and Ohmar D. Braden, 36, of Lithonia.

Fambro-Echols allegedly passed hundreds of stolen checks to Weaver, McKee and Braden, who cashed the checks at banks and other businesses and split the proceeds with her, said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.

Yates said that Frasier acted as a broker who recruited the check cashers. Weaver, McKee and Braden allegedly used forged endorsements and fake IDs to cash the checks, which included tax refunds, veterans benefits and Social Security payments.

Law enforcement authorities conducted a search that found more than 660 checks totaling more than $590,000 in Frambro-Echols' possession and in her home, the indictment said.

The seven-count indictment alleges conspiracy, theft of government money, possession of stolen Treasury checks, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The charges carry maximum sentences of five to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million. The aggravated identity theft charge requires a minimum of two years in prison in addition to any other sentences imposed.

The investigation was carried out by the Stolen Treasury Check Task Force, an informal group of 14 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Yates noted that Georgia is third in the nation in the number of Treasury checks reported stolen from the mail.