Date: December 2, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Newark, NJ — A U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employee was arrested today for stealing mail, including stealing credit cards and stimulus checks from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. Parrish Brookins, of East Orange, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of mail theft by a Postal Service officer or employee. He appeared this afternoon via videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jessica Stein Allen in Newark federal court and was released on $50,000 bond. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: From January 2021 to July 2021, certain credit cards addressed to third-party victims and mailed to addresses on postal routes in Verona and Montclair, New Jersey, were stolen on or about the same dates that Brookins was delivering mail on those routes. These credit cards subsequently were activated by Brookins and others and used to make and attempt to make fraudulent purchases in New Jersey and elsewhere. From at least March 2021 to September 2021, Brookins also stole stimulus checks issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury likewise addressed to third-party victims and mailed to addresses on postal routes in Verona covered by Brookins, who then provided these checks to others for fraudulent purposes. The mail theft charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents with the U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modafferi, Northeast Area Field Office, and postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Raimundo Marrero, with the investigation leading to today's arrest. She also thanked special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez, for its assistance. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. McCarren of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark. The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
