NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A 31-year-old Brooklyn woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison for stealing thousands of blank money orders and unemployment benefits from the postal office where she worked, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Jaleesa Wallace worked at a post office on Utica Avenue in East Flatbush where 10,000 blank money orders went missing in February 2021.
An investigation led agents to Wallace’s home where they found over 3,000 of the stolen money orders, prepaid Department of Labor unemployment benefit cards and $43,000 in cash.
Over $4 million worth of the stolen money orders had been cashed at different financial institutions throughout the country.
“The defendant exploited her position with one of our most trusted institutions, the United States Postal Service, for her own personal gain and caused significant losses to financial institutions,” said United States Attorney Breon Peace. “Residents of the district need to be confident that postal employees carry out their duties honestly and that important documents can travel safely in the mail.”
In August 2021, Wallace was terminated by the USPS. She also forfeited the cash seized from her apartment to the United States Postal Inspection Service.
Wallace was charged with postal theft and ordered to pay $4 million in restitution on top of her prison sentence.
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