CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Two postal employees and a Virginia man have pleaded guilty to stealing almost $2 million dollars in checks from the mail in a scheme that went on for months, according to federal documents.

Twenty-four-year-old Devon Drumgoole of Norfolk pleaded guilty to mail fraud, along with postal workers Darnelle Concepcion and Quasheda Jones.

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USPS officials said Concepcion worked in Chesapeake, Virginia, from June 2019 until April 2024. They said Jones, who worked in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina area, was hired in June 2019 and worked until September 2024.

The scheme went on for months, starting in November 2022. The postal workers would steal business checks from the mail and hand them over to Drumgoole, who would then alter the checks and deposit them, according to federal prosecutors.

Records state more than 75 checks — worth $1.3 million — were stolen along one route in a section of Chesapeake, according to prosecutors who reviewed bank records and complaints from customers.

They say in North Carolina, Drumgoole took about 15 checks from Jones, with a combined face value of about $650,000.

Defense Attorney Andrew Sacks said his client, Drumgoole, takes full responsibility for his crimes and admits he made a mistake.

"The mail carriers are the ones who had the fiduciary duty to the public to carry the mail and not to do something like this," Sacks said.

All three defendants have pleaded guilty and are out on bond, awaiting sentencing in federal court in the next few months.

This article was researched, reported, and written by Scripps News Group reporter Margaret Kavanagh. AI was used to minimize typos and ensure style continuity.