A South Bay woman who formerly worked as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Torrance was sentenced Monday to five years and three months behind bars for defrauding banks by stealing checks and debit and credit cards from the mail then selling them to her accomplices.
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Mary Ann Magdamit, 31, of Carson, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter to pay $660,200 in restitution.
She pleaded guilty in August in Los Angeles federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Magdamit is a former letter carrier at the Torrance Main Post Office. According to her plea agreement and court documents, Magdamit stole mail containing checks, personal identifying information, and debit and credit cards.
She then activated the stolen bank-issued cards online, used the cards to make purchases, and sold some stolen cards to her co-conspirators. She also arranged to have accomplices cash the stolen checks, usually by people using counterfeit identity documents in the name of the check's payee, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Magdamit flaunted stacks of cash on social media and posted about exotic vacations and luxury purchases. She has agreed to forfeit a Rolex watch and other high-priced goods purchased with cards stolen from the mail, her plea agreement says.
Law enforcement personnel searched Magdamit's apartment in December 2024 and seized 133 stolen credit and debit cards, 16 U.S. Department of Treasury checks, and a loaded, un-serialized Glock clone with an extended 27- round magazine, commonly referred to as a ghost gun, authorities said.
Court papers show she used stolen cards on international trips to Aruba and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Agents arrested Magdamit on July 1, after learning that she continued to make purchases with victims' credit cards. A second search of Magdamit's apartment that day yielded more stolen cards, federal prosecutors said.
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