CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Four people are facing charges after allegedly stealing around 2,500 blank USPS money orders from a Charlotte-area post office, U.S. District Attorney Dena King said Thursday.
The indictment alleges that the four suspects acquired the money orders between November 2020 and February 2023.
Officials said they used legitimate United States Postal Service money orders as “templates” to make falsified and forged money orders which they then deposited into multiple bank and credit union accounts.
According to the indictment, the four suspects would then withdraw the cash before the financial institutions detected the fraud.
Officials said they redeemed around 800 of the stolen money orders, causing losses that totaled more than $750,000.
Ravenna Lee Dorsey, Jr., 33, of Charlotte, Jaren Jamar Hopkins-Benton, 28, of Charlotte, Gregory Jeremy Singleton, 27, of Charlotte, and Shawn Joanta Brooks, 40, of Shelby, North Carolina, were each charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States by possessing and passing forged and altered USPS money orders, and possession of stolen and fraudulently altered USPS money orders.
The Department of Justice said the conspiracy charge and each count of possession of stolen and fraudulently altered USPS money orders carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count.
