Four individuals have pleaded guilty to charges related to the theft and resale of U.S. Treasury checks, according to a May 5 announcement by United States Attorney David Metcalf. The defendants, Saahir Irby and Tauheed Tucker of Philadelphia, Cory Scott of Ardmore, and Alexander Telewoda of Clifton Heights, entered their pleas before United States District Judge Joshua D. Wolson.
The case centers on a scheme that occurred between June 2023 and September 2024. During this period, Irby and Tucker worked as mail processing clerks at the United States Postal Service’s Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center. They stole thousands of envelopes containing U.S. Treasury checks from mail sorting machines. These stolen checks were then sold to Scott and Telewoda.
Scott and Telewoda advertised the stolen checks for resale using Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging application. After receiving payment from buyers across the country, they mailed out the stolen Treasury checks so that buyers could attempt to cash them.
Authorities report that over $84 million in Treasury checks were stolen during this scheme. Approximately $11 million worth of these checks were successfully cashed at financial institutions by buyers around the country. A grand jury returned a superseding indictment against all four defendants in May 2025; Irby had previously been charged with another instance of mail theft involving additional Treasury checks he sold in August 2024.
Sentencing is scheduled for later this year: Irby, Tucker, and Telewoda are set for August while Scott is scheduled for September. Irby faces up to 25 years in prison along with three years supervised release and a $1 million fine; each remaining defendant faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment plus three years supervised release and fines up to $750,000.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General as well as local law enforcement agencies such as Montgomery County Detective Bureau and Lower Merion Township Police Department.
