U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Former Mail Carrier and Co-Schemer Who Lived on His Mail Delivery Route Each Sentenced to Nearly 3½ Years in Prison for COVID Fraud (USAO CD-CA 12/12/2022) (2022-12-14)

Summary

Press release 22-263 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, dated December 12, 2022, announcing that former United States Postal Service mail carrier Stephen Glover of Palmdale was sentenced by United States District Judge Percy Anderson to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $151,698 in restitution. Glover pleaded guilty on July 11 to mail fraud and theft of mail matter by an officer or employee. According to the release, from August 2020 to June 2021 Glover gave co-schemers addresses on his mail route for fraudulent California Employment Development Department claims, then stole the EDD debit cards mailed there. Co-schemer Travis McKenzie of Valencia, who lived on the route, was also sentenced to 41 months and ordered to pay $448,228 in restitution.

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Full text

                                     Department of Justice
                                       U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                    Central District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Monday, December 12, 2022

  Former Mail Carrier and Co-Schemer Who Lived on His
 Mail Delivery Route Each Sentenced to Nearly 3½ Years in
                 Prison for COVID Fraud
     LOS ANGELES – A former United States Postal Service mail carrier was sentenced today to 41
months in federal prison for scheming to steal more than $250,000 in unemployment insurance (UI)
funds by making false claims of COVID-related job losses and for stealing UI debit cards intended for
other people on his mail route.

    Stephen Glover, 33, of Palmdale, was sentenced by United States District Judge Percy
Anderson, who also ordered him to pay $151,698 in restitution.

     Glover pleaded guilty on July 11 to one count of mail fraud and one count of theft of mail matter
by an officer or employee.

     Judge Anderson today also sentenced Glover’s co-schemer, Travis McKenzie, 26, of Valencia, to
41 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $448,228 in restitution. McKenzie, who lived on
Glover’s mail route, pleaded guilty on July 13 to a three-count information charging him with mail
fraud, mail theft and identity theft.

     From August 2020 to June 2021, while he was employed at the United States Post Office in
Valencia, Glover schemed to defraud the California Employment Development Department (EDD)
out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 -related unemployment benefits. Glover’s co-
schemers applied for unemployment benefits using false statements and sometimes using stolen
identities. Based upon the fraudulent claims, EDD mailed out debit cards to addresses listed on the
applications.

     The fraudulent UI claims were federally funded through programs authorized by Congress in
response to the pandemic, including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Lost Wage
Assistance programs.

      Glover abused his position as a mail carrier by providing co-schemers with addresses on his
mail route, which his co-schemers then used as mailing addresses on the fraudulent EDD
applications. After EDD mailed debit cards to those addresses, Glover intercepted and stole that
mail.

     Glover also stole legitimate EDD debit cards intended for recipients on his mail route. Glover
used the EDD debit cards in other people’s names to withdraw thousands of dollars in cash from
ATMs. He also activated the debit cards in other people’s names by calling EDD and using PINs he
had discovered from stolen EDD mail. During a search of his girlfriend’s residence in June 2021, law
enforcement found 37 pieces of mail from EDD address to 15 different individuals.

     The total intended loss related to Glover’s mail fraud scheme is $270,698.

      McKenzie admitted in his plea agreement that law enforcement found more than 150 pieces of
mail from EDD addressed to more than 50 different names, as well as mail from the Virginia
Employment Commission, at his residence. McKenzie used cash withdrawn from ATMs using EDD
debit cards to purchase items from luxury retailers including Louis Vuitton and Prada handbags
from luxury retailers Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

     The intended loss applicable to McKenzie’s participation in the mail fraud scheme is
approximately $577,522. McKenzie further admitted to possessing 317 pieces of stolen mail.

     The United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; the United States Postal
Service, Office of Inspector General; the California Employment Development Department,
Investigation Division; and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated this matter.

     Assistant United States Attorney Charles E. Pell of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted
these cases.

     Anyone with information about allegations of fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling
the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or via the
NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-
form.
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Component(s):
USAO - California, Central
Contact:
Ciaran McEvoy Public Information Officer ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov (213) 894-4465
Press Release Number:
22-263
                                                                             Updated December 12, 2022


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