Brooklyn mail carrier gets 30 months for stealing $4M in money orders

January 5, 2023 Rob Abruzzese

A USPS truck. Photo: Seth Perlman/AP

Share this:

EAST FLATBUSH — A 31-year-old mail carrier in Brooklyn was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Wednesday after she was caught stealing more than $4 million worth of blank money orders from the post office where she worked on Utica Avenue in East Flatbush.

Jaleesa Wallace, who was fired from her job in August 2021, was handed the 30-month sentence by Hon. Carol Bagley Amon. She was also ordered to pay over $4 million in restitution.

“The defendant exploited her position with one of our most trusted institutions, the United States Postal Service, for her own personal gain and caused significant losses to financial institutions,” stated U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “Residents of the district need to be confident that postal employees carry out their duties honestly and that important documents can travel safely in the mail.”

Wallace worked at the Utica Avenue post office in February 2021 when 10,000 blank money orders were reported missing. Each money order is worth up to $1,000. When she was arrested, law enforcement officers found 3,000 blank money orders still remaining and they claimed that she had used the rest to steal more than $4 million from various financial institutions across the country.

Not just money orders, though, Wallace was also caught with prepaid Department of Labor unemployment benefit cards and $43,000 in cash. She had 42 pieces of mail from the Department of Labor in her apartment when she was arrested, prosecutors said.