A former Southern California postal worker will serve more than five years in federal prison for stealing more than $10 million in checks from the mail, the Department of Justice says.
On Monday, the DOJ announced that Rashad Stolden, 34, of Huntington Beach, was sentenced to 66 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $1.6 million in restitution for the massive scheme.
Stolden previous admitted in April to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud while working at the Bicentennial Post Office in Los Angeles’ Fairfax District.
Over a four-year period, Stolden, while working as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, stole piece of mail containing large value checks, Treasury notes and unemployment debit cards from the California Employment Development Department.
A friend and coworker of Stolden, Charlie Green, 37, of East L.A., was also involved in the scheme, the DOJ said.
Together, the two sold the stolen checks to multiple co-conspirators who would then use counterfeit documents and stolen personal information to turn the checks and debit cards into cash.
In June 2022, Stolden stole a check from the U.S. Treasury worth $7.3 million; he then sold the check to a co-conspirator who took it to a bank in Tennessee and was able to withdraw more than $1 million from the deposit.
At the time of the fraudulent deposit, Stolden told his accomplice that he was “trying to retire,” and needed their help.
In court documents, prosecutors lambasted Stolden for a lack of empathy for those who lost their disability and unemployment benefits through the scheme while he was planning his own expensive vacations.
“[He] seemed to think only of his own profits, trying to decide whether he should use his thefts to pay for a $13,000 hotel stay in Bora Bora, or if he should upgrade to a $20,000 stay in the Presidential Villa at the Conrad,” prosecutors wrote.
Multiple co-conspirators have been identified, charged and prosecuted in separate court cases, the DOJ said. Both Stolden and Green are currently free on $50,000 bond.
Green is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
The case was investigated by the USPS Office of Inspector General and the Postal Inspection Service, among other agencies.
This is another high-profile instance of a Los Angeles-area USPS worker admitting to stealing checks and EDD cards from the mail in order to furnish a luxury lifestyle. In August, a postal worker at a Torrance facility admitted to stealing checks and debit cards from the mail and then flaunting her ill-gotten gains on social media.
That postal worker, Mary Ann Magdamit, 31, of Carson, faces up to 30 years in prison.
The post Former L.A. postal worker sentenced to prison for stealing millions from mail appeared first on KTLA.
