ST. LOUIS — A man who had access to all first-class mail routed through downtown St. Louis was accused of stealing more than $1.5 million worth of checks from the mail.
Anthony Virdure II, a 29-year-old postal worker, was charged with three counts of mail theft and one count of wire fraud for allegedly stealing checks and getting a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Virdue was a mail handler at the Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center at 1720 Market Street who had access to all first-class mail routed through the center.
In addition to the alleged check theft, Virdure fraudulently applied for a PPP loan in 2021 for a tobacco store called Virdure Dynamics. The application supplied false tax documents and the address listed on the application was actually that of his grandmother's home.
If convicted, Virdure could be sentenced to up to five years in prison for each to the mail theft charges and up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge. Each charge could also carry a fine of up to $250,000.
