Former U.S. Postal Office employee used job to find bank fraud victims
BALTIMORE -- A former U.S. Postal Service employee has pleaded guilty to using her job as a clerk to obtain the personal information of people and using that information to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Breanna Lee Cartledge, 28, of Clinton, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud financial institutions by creating fake checks, officials said.
Cartledge and her co-conspirators used that information without authorization from their victims, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Cartledge reportedly sent one of those co-conspirators images of at least nine separate money orders or checks that contained personal identifying information, officials said.
The group wanted the information so that they could create fake checks to steal from the accounts of their victims, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Cartledge negotiated a counterfeit check for the fraudulent withdrawal of $4,900 from the account of one victim, but that transaction was reversed by the bank, officials said.
Cartledge faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
