Postal workers arrested after Christmas charity scam
NEW YORK -- Three New York postal workers have been accused of playing the Grinch and stealing gifts destined for underprivileged children by rigging the Operation Santa program where they worked.
Federal criminal charges including conspiracy and mail fraud against two current and one former postal worker were unsealed Wednesday in federal court. The unsealing came the day the three were arrested.
A U.S. Postal Service agent says in the complaint the two men and one woman carried out their scheme between November 2013 and January 2014.
The three worked at Operation Santa Headquarters in the huge James A. Farley Post Office in Manhattan.
The complaint says they wrote fake letters to fraudulently obtain electronics, clothing and other items and even replaced underprivileged kids' addresses with their own addresses for gifts to be delivered.