Postal worker steals over $1.5 million in checks from letters in MO center, feds say

When $1.5 million in checks went missing from letters at a Missouri mail distribution center, fingerprints tracked back to a 29-year-old postal worker , federal officials said.

Anthony Virdure II, a mail handler for the United States Postal Service in St. Louis, was indicted on three counts of mail theft and one count of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announced Sept. 26.

McClatchy News was unable to locate attorney information for Virdure.

From Nov. 15 to April 11, Virdure stole three letters containing checks from the distribution center where he had access to all first-class mail, according to the indictment.

The pieces of mail were set to go to people in Alton, Illinois; Palatine, Illinois; and St. Louis, respectively, according to court documents.

Additionally, Virdure is accused of fraudulently applying for and receiving a Pandemic Protection Loan worth more than $20,000 for a tobacco store. The address listed on his application, according to federal officials, was his grandmother’s home.

The $20,832 COVID-19 pandemic relief loan was intended to cover payroll, debts and other expenses for small businesses grappling with the pandemic, the indictment said.

Virdure lied on his PPP loan application, saying his tobacco business made $100,000 in 2020, but the Schedule C document reporting that revenue was fake, the indictment said.

If convicted on all charges, Virdure faces up to 35 years in prison, prosecutors said.

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