A letter carrier at the post office on Beverly Boulevard was convicted of stealing checks from 2020-24. (photo by Edwin Folven)

A former United States Postal Service letter carrier who worked at the Bicentennial Post Office at 7610 Beverly Blvd. was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in federal prison on Sept. 8 for stealing checks, credit cards and debit cards from the mail.

Rashad Deon Stolden, 34, of Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty on April 14 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner sentenced Stolden to prison and ordered him to pay $1.6 million in restitution to banks that were defrauded.

Prosecutors said Stolden stole high-value checks and credit cards, as well as debit cards from the California Employment Development Department for people receiving unemployment insurance. The thefts occurred when Stolden worked at the Bicentennial Post Office from 2020 through August 2024, according to the criminal complaint. Stolden sold the checks, credit cards and debit cards for a fraction of their value to friends and co-conspirators, who created fake IDs using counterfeit documents and cashed the checks, authorities said. Bank of America, City National Bank, Truist Bank and the California Employment Development Department were among the victims, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

One of the highest value thefts occurred in June 2022 when Stolden stole a $7.3 million U.S. Treasury check and sold it to a co-conspirator, who deposited it in a bank in Tennessee and withdrew more than $1 million before the fraud was discovered, authorities said. According to court documents in the case, investigators accessed text messages from Stolden in which he discussed selling the checks. In other messages, he discussed spending tens of thousands of dollars on hotels, authorities said in court documents.

Multiple federal agencies investigated the thefts including the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Anyone who believes they are the victim of mail theft is urged to call the United States Postal Inspection Service at (877)876-2455, or report it to uspis.gov/report.