Postal workers charged with taking bribes to move cocaine

January 25, 2017, Atlanta, Georgia - U.S. Attorney John Horn speaks at a press conference following defendant Elvin “E.R.” Mitchell Jr.’s hearing in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, January 25, 2017. (HENRY TAYLOR / HENRY.TAYLOR@AJC.COM)

January 25, 2017, Atlanta, Georgia - U.S. Attorney John Horn speaks at a press conference following defendant Elvin “E.R.” Mitchell Jr.’s hearing in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, January 25, 2017. (HENRY TAYLOR / HENRY.TAYLOR@AJC.COM)

Seventeen postal workers have been charged with taking bribes from supposed drug traffickers to deliver cocaine through the mail.

According to a federal indictment unsealed today, the Atlanta metro area workers would give purported drug operators a special address to put on packages that supposedly contained kilograms of cocaine. The postal workers would pull out those packages and take them to the drug dealers, who were actually informants working with a federal sting operation. The packages contained fake drugs, according to federal authorities.

U.S. Attorney John Horn, who announced the three indictments charging the 16, said the postal workers, "for cash in their pockets... were willing to endanger themselves and the residents on their routes and bring harmful drugs into the community.”

All 17 were arrested today and will appear before a federal magistrate this afternoon.

“The allegations contained in these federal indictments are disturbing to say the least,” said David LeValley, who is in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta field office.

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