Sayler A. Fleming, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney' Office for the Eastern District of Missouri
Sayler A. Fleming, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney' Office for the Eastern District of Missouri
A former mail handler with the U.S. Postal Service in St. Louis has pleaded guilty to charges related to mail theft and pandemic relief fraud.
Anthony Virdure II, 30, admitted on Wednesday to one count of mail theft and one count of wire fraud after investigators linked him to stolen checks and a fraudulent loan application.
Authorities began investigating after U.S. Postal Inspectors were called by the Hazelwood Police Department on December 1, 2023, regarding 30 stolen checks found in a rental vehicle. The checks had been routed through the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center at 1720 Market Street, where Virdure worked and had access to all first-class mail. Inspectors found his fingerprints on one check removed from a stolen letter.
Further investigation followed when the Frontenac Police Department contacted postal inspectors about more checks left behind in an apartment vacated by a tenant in St. Louis on January 3, 2024. These checks also passed through the same distribution center, with Virdure’s fingerprints again identified on one of them.
On April 30, law enforcement executed a court-approved search of an apartment and recovered another 298 stolen checks—many bearing Virdure’s fingerprints. The total value of all stolen checks was $68,486.
Virdure also admitted to fraudulently obtaining a $20,832 Pandemic Protection Program (PPP) loan in 2021 for a tobacco store named Virdure Dynamics by falsely claiming sole proprietorship and reporting gross income of $100,000.
He is scheduled for sentencing on November 30. The wire fraud charge carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; the mail theft charge carries up to five years’ imprisonment with the same fine amount. He will be required to repay the funds as part of any sentence imposed.
The case was investigated by multiple agencies: the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Frontenac Police Department, and Hazelwood Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting.
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