U.S. Postal Carrier Kiara Padgett, 29, and her husband Dominique Dunlap, 28, appeared in federal court on September 15, 2023 pleading guilty to federal charges for conspiring to commit an extensive mail theft scheme in Charlotte, NC where checks were sold to Terrell Hager, 24.
According to plea documents Kiara was employed by the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier with a postal route in west Charlotte.
From August 2021 to November 2022, Kiara used her position as a postal carrier to steal incoming and outgoing checks in the mail of businesses and individuals.
Kiara sold the stolen checks using Dominique as her intermediary to other individuals, including to Terrell. The total face value of the checks stolen by Kiara was over $8.8 million.
Dominique negotiated with Terrell about the sale of stolen checks over text messages, and sent him photographs of stacks of stolen mail and of stolen checks of victim companies on Kiara’s postal route.
Several people were arrested in a $3 million mail theft scheme in September 2022
In March 2023, Terrell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Court documents filed with the court show that, between August 2021 and November 2022, Terrell and other individuals obtained stolen checks from Kiara and Dominique.
The suspects deposited the stolen checks into bank accounts they controlled, and then made cash withdrawals before the banks detected the fraud.
Over the course of the scheme, Terrell and his co-conspirators deposited more than $66,000 in stolen checks and money orders.
Terrell also posted online for sale more than 400 stolen checks totaling over $7.3 million.
Kiara and Dominique pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Dominique also pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of stolen mail.
