Three Houston mail carriers are accused of stealing checks from the mail and feeding them into an operation that federal prosecutors say acquired and sold nearly $24 million worth of stolen checks.
A federal grand jury indicted five people in the case, including U.S. Postal Service carriers Catherine Clauzelle Kilpatrick, Drakkor Jamar Alexander, and Malcolm Tiree Joubert. Prosecutors say Tryston Tremaine Vaughn recruited postal carriers to take checks from their routes, while Alyssa Nadine Bryant helped purchase and resell stolen checks.
The indictment alleges the conspiracy began around October 2022 and continued until the indictment was returned on Aug. 19, 2026. Prosecutors put the total face value of checks allegedly acquired and sold by the defendants and their co-conspirators at approximately $23,973,338.15.
The indictment does not say how much buyers paid for the checks or how many were successfully cashed.
Special Delivery
Kilpatrick allegedly stole mail containing a $9,858.01 Chase check while working as a USPS carrier in Houston on Oct. 23, 2023. According to the federal indictment, she also sold stolen checks to Vaughn for payment.
Alexander allegedly stole mail including a $16,636.54 check drawn from an Amegy Bank account while working as a Houston mail carrier on March 14, 2024. The indictment likewise alleges that Alexander sold stolen checks to Vaughn for payment.
Then there was Joubert.
Prosecutors say Joubert was working as a Houston mail carrier on May 15, 2024, when he stole mail including a BMO check for $1,517,875.27. The indictment separately alleges that he sold stolen checks to Vaughn for payment.
Slips And Chips
Getting the checks out of the mail was allegedly only the beginning.
Vaughn, Bryant, and other alleged co-conspirators would meet postal employees to purchase stolen checks, according to prosecutors. Vaughn and his co-conspirators then allegedly advertised stolen checks for sale through a Telegram channel called “slipsandchips.”
The indictment identifies a $79,894.60 Citibank check that Vaughn allegedly sent to a purchaser in April 2024. Vaughn and Bryant are also accused of sending a purchaser a stolen $25,007.25 Stellar Bank check that September.
Prosecutors say Vaughn and his co-conspirators shipped stolen checks to purchasers through FedEx.
Background Check
People entrusted with other people’s mail are already subject to criminal-record screening before they are hired.
USPS employment rules require a criminal-record check in each county where an applicant lived during the previous five years. Applicants who are selected can also be subject to additional criminal-record checks.
A criminal conviction does not automatically disqualify someone from postal employment. USPS requires applicants with criminal histories to be evaluated individually using factors that include the nature and circumstances of an offense, how much time has passed, rehabilitation, employment history, and the postal position being sought.
The Postal Service does identify a conviction for theft or embezzlement among possible reasons for finding an applicant unsuitable. A criminal record alone, however, is not an automatic bar to postal employment.
Background checks have limitations of their own.
A 2024 study listed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs compared official state criminal records with private-sector background checks for 101 people. Researchers found missing case dispositions and other incorrect or incomplete information in the private reports.
The Government Accountability Office review found gaps in criminal-history records used in FBI checks, including arrest records without final dispositions.
Research highlighted by the National Institute of Justice found that the risk associated with a prior offense diminished as more crime-free time passed, eventually approaching that of otherwise similar people in the general population.
Nine Counts
All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
The indictment also contains five substantive bank-fraud counts tied to individual checks ranging from the $9,858.01 check allegedly taken by Kilpatrick to the $1,517,875.27 check prosecutors say Joubert removed from the mail.
Kilpatrick, Alexander, and Joubert each face an additional count of theft of mail matter by a postal employee.
The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.