A former mail carrier in Indiana has admitted to stealing checks out of the U.S. mail as part of a $34 million bank fraud conspiracy that hit roughly 6,500 victims.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana says Destinee Ruffin, 29, of Indianapolis has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and theft of mail.
Prosecutors say Ruffin worked as a letter carrier at the Bacon Station Post Office in Indianapolis, where she took checks from both incoming and outgoing mail between November of 2020 and May of 2022.
She then sold the checks to co-conspirators, who altered them and had them deposited into other people’s bank accounts.
One buyer, Tony McMullen, 36, of Calumet Park, Illinois, paid Ruffin more than $10,000 across 38 Cash App transfers for stolen checks.
McMullen found people on social media willing to hand over debit cards, PINs or online banking logins, then changed the payee on 36 stolen checks worth about $235,632 and deposited them into those accounts.
Ruffin sold even more to John Young, 24, of Indianapolis, supplying him with over $12 million in stolen checks.
Young leaned on mid-level partners to deposit the checks and recruit account holders, and he also listed many of the checks for sale on the messaging app Telegram.
Investigators cracked the scheme by mailing controlled Treasury checks with recorded serial numbers and tracing them back to Ruffin’s route.
A search of her home, vehicle and electronic devices in April of 2024 turned up thousands of stolen checks worth more than $20 million that she had not yet sold.
McMullen has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, while Eric Hollis, 23, received one year and one day and Kendall Thompson, 24, got four months.
Young is still waiting on a sentencing date, and Ruffin is set to be sentenced on October 27th.
Prosecutors say potential victims include anyone who lived or worked along the Bacon Station route, mailed a paper check between November of 2020 and May of 2022, or never received an expected mailing during that time.
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The post Indiana Postal Worker Admits Stealing Checks From the Mail in $34,000,000 Fraud Scheme That Hit About 6,500 Victims appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
