7 Former Chicago USPS Employees Charged With Stealing Credit Cards From Mail And Selling Them

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Seven former U.S. Postal Service employees in Chicago stood accused Wednesday of taking credit cards and other financial information out of the mail, and selling them.

The defendants were indicted as part of Operation Cash on Delivery, a federal investigation that has already resulted in conspiracy charges against other former USPS employees.

Federal prosecutors said some of the defendants also stole USPS customers' personal information such as dates of birth and Social Security numbers, which were then used to activate the stolen credit cards fraudulently.

The defendants either delivered mail in Chicago or processed and sorted mail at a USPS facility in Palatine, prosecutors said.

Charged with conspiring to steal mail are former USPS employees Charlese Bennett, 31, of Chicago; Shuntonese Richardson, 24, of Willowbrook; Latiyah Davidson, 28, of Chicago; C'ory Voniper McNeal, 32, of Atlanta, Georgia; Brandy Walker, 33, of Chicago; and Zakeya Blake, 24, of Hammond, Indiana.

Also charged in the conspiracy are Daray Ross Hines, 25, of Chicago; Tramont Miller, 23, of Wheaton; Mahlik Washington, 30, of Chicago; and William Crawford, 33, of Chicago. Former USPS employee Kennethia Howlett, 27, of Chicago, stands charged with knowingly receiving and possessing stolen mail.