USPS workers suspected in ‘check washing’ scheme

A 20-year-old Chicago man has been charged and authorities believe U.S. Postal Service employees were involved in a “check-washing” scheme that resulted in the theft of $58,000 from a Saukville company.

Last summer, multiple checks issued by P.D. Peterka and Associates were stolen from the mail and “washed,” a process in which the name of the payee and the amount are changed.

Several of those checks were re-written to Tremell K. Levy for much higher than the original amounts and deposited in his account and others earlier this year, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in Ozaukee County Circuit Court.

For instance, one check for $151 issued by P.D. Peterka to a Canadian company in July 2023 was “washed” and re-issued to Levy in the amount of $9,439, the complaint states.

Levy is charged with two counts of unauthorized use of an entity’s identifying information or documents and two counts of fraud against a financial institution, all felonies.

The investigation into the scheme began in February when the president of P.D. Peterka reported to Saukville police that seven of the company’s checks, originally written for a total amount of $14,138, had been stolen, “washed” and re-issued for a total amount of $58,829.

Those checks were re-issued to Levy and three other people, according to the complaint.

  Authorities learned from the company’s bank, BMO Harris, that the checks were deposited at four PNC Bank branches in Illinois.

As has been the company’s longtime practice, the president delivered the checks directly to a Postal Service employee at the Saukville Post Office, the complaint states.

Officer Eric Ramthun, the lead investigator of mail fraud in Saukville who knows of cases in which checks were taken after being put in the mailbox outside the Saukville Post Office, suspected Postal Service employees were involved in the theft of the P.D. Peterka checks and requested the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to the complaint.

Video from the PNC Bank branch in Schaumberg, Ill., showed two men, one of whom was identified as Levy using facial recognition software, depositing “washed” checks issued to Levy, the complaint states.

During the investigation, Ramthun found evidence that a person was orchestrating the thefts of checks as they came into Postal Service centers in Illinois and that this ringleader was recruiting people, including Postal Service employees, to deposit stolen and “washed” checks into their accounts in return for being able to keep a portion of the stolen money, according to the complaint.

Saukville Police Chief Robert Meyer said in an interview this week that his department has turned over the investigation to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “We handled what we could,” he said. “This is definitely bigger than just what we investigated.”

Meyer said no local Postal Service employees are suspected of being involved in the scheme.

“Nobody at the Saukville Post Office, at this time, is a subject of the investigation, which is focused on people from outside our community,” he said.

Ultimately, BMO Harris credited P.D. Peterka $50,515 for six of the stolen checks.

A warrant for Levy’s arrest has been issued.

Unauthorized use of an entity’s information and fraud against a financial institution are punishable by a maximum three years in prison and three years of extended supervision.