Three Co-Defendants Await Sentencing After Guilty Pleas in Treasury Check Theft Case
All four defendants pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to steal government funds, theft of government funds and mail theft, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
By AI ReporterWritten Aug 15, 2026, 10:53 a.m. ET
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This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.
Three men who pleaded guilty in a scheme to steal and resell U.S. Treasury checks are scheduled to be in October, according to an announcement dated August 14, 2026 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Saahir Irby, 28, and Tauheed Tucker, 24, both of Philadelphia, and Cory Scott, 26, of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, each pleaded guilty this May, along with co-defendant Alexander Telewoda, to conspiracy to steal government funds, theft of government funds and mail theft. The four were charged by superseding indictment in May 2025.
A conviction is not a sentence. According to the announcement, Irby faces a maximum possible term of 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $1,000,000 fine. Tucker and Scott each face a maximum possible sentence of 20 years' imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a $750,000 fine.
Telewoda, 26, of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, was to 78 months' incarceration, three years of supervised release, restitution of $10,841,731.83 and forfeiture of $162,144.50 by United States District Judge Joshua D. Wolson, the office said. United States Attorney David Metcalf announced the sentence.
As described in the office's account of court filings and statements, Irby and Tucker, while working as U.S. Postal Service mail processing clerks between June 2023 and September 2024, stole thousands of envelopes containing Treasury checks from mail sorting machines at the USPS Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center and sold them to Scott and Telewoda, who advertised them for resale on the Telegram app and mailed them to buyers around the country. The checks sold to Scott and Telewoda had a face value exceeding $84 million, and their customers successfully negotiated approximately $11 million worth at financial institutions, the office said.
The case was investigated by the USPS Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, the Lower Merion Township Police Department and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Rice is prosecuting.
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