INDIANAPOLIS — Former United States Postal Service letter carrier Destinee Ruffin was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison on Wednesday for stealing checks in a fraud scheme affecting approximately 6,500 victims. Ruffin, 29, of Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Theft of Mail.

Ruffin received two years of supervised release following her prison term. The sentencing concluded a case involving the theft of checks valued at over $34 million in total scope.

Ruffin was employed as a letter carrier at the Bacon Station Post Office in Indianapolis. Between April 2020 and May 2022, she used her access to incoming and outgoing mail to steal checks, which she then sold to co-conspirators.

The investigation began in spring 2020 when the USPS Office of Inspector General received a complaint from a customer who did not receive an Economic Impact Payment check. Agents discovered that all missing checks were assigned to Ruffin's delivery route. Investigators later uncovered the scheme by mailing controlled Treasury checks with recorded serial numbers and tracing them back to her route.

In April 2024, officers executed a search warrant on Ruffin’s vehicle, residence, person, and electronic devices. They found thousands of stolen checks valued at over $20 million in her vehicle and residence. Stolen mail was located on shelves, in closets, on the floor, stacked in corners, and in the bathroom.

"Destinee Ruffin’s crimes were not isolated acts of theft; they represented a sweeping scheme that touched thousands of households and eroded a fundamental public trust," the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana said. "By stealing millions of dollars’ worth of checks from the mail, Ruffin and her co-conspirators disrupted critical benefits, jeopardized family finances."

Ruffin supplied co-conspirator John Young with more than $12 million in stolen checks. She also provided Tony McMullen with stolen checks worth more than $235,000. Ruffin and McMullen exchanged 38 Cash App transactions totaling over $10,000 in payments from McMullen to Ruffin for stolen checks.

McMullen, 36, of Calumet Park, Illinois, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $121,270.30 in restitution. McMullen fraudulently negotiated 36 checks worth approximately $235,632. He altered payee information on stolen checks before depositing them or demanding payment through Cash App or Zelle.

Eric Hollis, 23, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $117,275.30 in restitution. Kendall Thompson, 24, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to four months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $9,320.05 in restitution.

John Young, 24, of Indianapolis, is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3, 2026. Young established trusted mid-level conspirators, primarily Hollis and Thompson, who deposited stolen checks into various accounts. Young listed many of the stolen checks for sale on the internet-based application Telegram.