Former Philadelphia Postal Workers Charged in $80M Treasury Check Theft Scheme

Four men, including two former U.S. Postal Service mail processing clerks, have been charged in a scheme to steal and resell U.S. Treasury checks worth over $80 million from the Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center. Tauheed Tucker and Saahir Irby allegedly stole thousands of envelopes containing Treasury checks from mail sorting machines between June 2023 and September 2024, selling them to Cory Scott and Alexander Telewoda. Scott and Telewoda advertised the stolen checks on the messaging app Telegram, selling them to buyers nationwide who attempted to cash the checks without the knowledge of the original payees. The face value of the stolen checks exceeded $80 million, but the total loss to the government was around $11 million—the amount fraudulently cashed at financial institutions. Irby faces additional charges for a separate mail theft incident involving Treasury checks stolen in August 2024. If convicted, the defendants face significant prison terms and fines, with Irby facing up to 25 years in prison and the others up to 20 years each.