A supervisor at an Atlanta mail processing center pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to stealing more than 1,300 U.S. Treasury checks worth more than $2.8 million from the center.
Gerald Eason, 47, of Stockbridge, also admitted to conspiring with another postal worker, Deborah Fambro-Echols, 49, of Hapeville, at the same center, to steal and cash additional checks. Fambro-Echols pleaded guilty Nov. 26.
Four other defendants, Wendy Frasier, 35, and Daralyn M. Weaver, 31, both of Atlanta; Jabril O. McKee, 25, of Fairburn, and Ohmar D. Braden, 36, of Lithonia, also have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme, according to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
“We created a task force last year to address the problem of stolen U.S. Treasury checks in Georgia,” Yates said in a statement.
At that time, Georgia ranked third in the country in the number of federal tax refund, Social Security and Veterans checks reported stolen, she said.
“With today’s pleas, we have taken two corrupt postal workers, including a supervisor, off the streets who were responsible for stealing thousands of checks worth over $3 million.”
Eason worked as a supervisor at the Atlanta Processing and Distribution Center on Crown Road in Atlanta. That center processes mail for delivery to dozens of zip codes in Georgia. Fambro-Echols worked there as a mail handler. While on the job, Eason and Fambro-Echols stole thousands of U.S. Treasury checks and provided them to a network of brokers and check cashers who would then negotiate the checks and split the criminal proceeds with Eason and Fambro-Echols, Yates said.
“These individuals forged endorsements and used fake identifications to pose as the intended recipients of the checks when cashing them,” she said.
In April 2011, law enforcement officials searched Fambro-Echols’ residence in Hapeville. They found 661 Treasury checks totaling more than $590,000. Almost all of the checks discovered during the search were dated from April 8 to 19, 2011, and thus stolen over less than a two-week period.
On March 7 and 11, 2012, Eason stole more than 1,300 Treasury checks worth more than $2.8 million, prosecutors said. Federal agents video recorded him stealing the checks at the mail center and then observed him drive the checks to a residence, where he thought they would be distributed to co-conspirators who would cash them. He was arrested while attempting to collect his portion of the proceeds from the second delivery, Yates said.
Frasier and Weaver acted as brokers for Fambro-Echols. They recruited others to cash the stolen checks at banks and business establishments, authorities said.
McKee and Braden worked as check cashers in the scheme, negotiating stolen checks with the help of fake identification documents and sharing the proceeds with their co-conspirators, prosecutors said. In March 2011, they were arrested at a BestBank in Decatur, attempting to cash a stolen Social Security check.
Eason pleaded guilty to seven counts, including conspiracy, theft of government money, and possession of stolen Treasury checks. Fambro-Echols pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft of government money. Frasier and Weaver pleaded guilty to conspiracy and possession of stolen Treasury checks. McKee and Braden pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. These charges carry maximum sentences from 5 to 30 years in prison each, and fines of up to $1 million per count. The aggravated identity theft charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in addition to any other sentence imposed.
Eason, Weaver, Fambro-Echols and Frasier are all scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27, 2013.
Eason and Fambro-Echols reflect just a very small percentage of employees who failed to uphold the trust and integrity placed in them, said Paul Bowman, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General.
“We take these cases very serious and investigate them to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “The majority of Postal Service employees are honest, hardworking, and committed to providing the timely and reliable service that customers expect and deserve.”
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