Mount Vernon mail carrier, husband arrested by feds in alleged credit card scheme

A Mount Vernon mail carrier and her husband are facing federal charges in an alleged scheme to use checks and credit cards stolen on her postal routes and open fake accounts in the names of some city residents.

Tameka and Joel Babulal, both 36, of Hempstead, were arrested Thursday, and a search of their home uncovered dozens of checks and credit cards belonging to Mount Vernon residents and business owners, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced. Several of the checks were "washed," meaning they had the writing on them cleaned off so a different recipient's name could be added.

"As alleged, Tameka Babulal abused her position as a mail carrier, targeted victims on her mail route, and stole their identities to carry out an extensive and calculated scheme to line her and her co-conspirators’ pockets," Williams said in a statement.

The couple worked with co-conspirators to gather pedigree information for residents on Babulal's postal routes whose identities were then used to try to open fake accounts, according to a criminal complaint by Special Agent Anthony Giattino of the U.S. Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General.

The complaint reveals that checks totaling as much as $800,000 were stolen from the mail in the city between May of last year and February. Many were on postal routes covered by Babulal but the complaint does not indicate how many she might have stolen.

Text messages allegedly provided information on victims

Babulal, who worked out of the South First Avenue mail distribution center, did not have a regular delivery route but would fill in on multiple routes in the city as needed.

Investigators were able to determine that credit cards were stolen on their expected delivery dates and that Babulal was often the only mail carrier assigned to the route on those days. Using phone records, they also matched text messages between Babulal and co-conspirators who provided pedigree information for at least three victims on her route who subsequently had accounts set up in their names

In several instances, Babulal would allegedly try to use the card on the same day it was taken, either to make purchases at a deli or gas station or to link the credit card to her CashApp account, according to the complaint.

On the morning of Sept. 12, according to the complaint, two credit cards that had gone missing from Babulal's postal routes in late August were unsuccessfully used seconds apart to make a $175 purchase at a Sunoco gas station. The purchase was eventually made a minute later using Tameka Babulal's Cash App account.

Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modafferi of the USPS' Inspector General's office said in a statement that the case was an example of a postal worker abusing the public's trust "by using their position for personal gain."

"The dedicated work of Postal Service employees should never be overshadowed by those who compromise their integrity," Modafferi said.

Details of the alleged scheme

The complaint cites two checks totaling $4,150 from a Jacksonville, Florida company that Tameka Babulal deposited into her Jovia Financial Credit Union account in late December 2022, at the start of the alleged fraud conspiracy. Jovia flagged the checks and asked Babulal what they were for. She claimed the company had paid her for a legitimate purpose but the company told Jovia the checks were fraudulent.

The cases of three identity theft victims from Mount Vernon were cited in the complaint. It detailed: how items were stolen from the victims' mail; that text messages between Temeka Babulal and co-conspirators showed background checks that provided personal identification information of the victims; and their efforts to set up Cash App and credit card accounts in those names, sometimes successfully.

In one case, a victim had been expecting a credit card in mid August 2023. It never arrived but she did get a call during that time about suspicious activity on the card.

Investigators determined Babulal was covering the mail route where the woman lived during that time. Over an eight-day period that month, there were attempted transactions with the card totaling more than $17,000, including at a Bronx jewelry store.

Investigators executed a search warrant at the couple's home in Hempstead Thursday.

In the couple's bedroom, according to the complaint, investigators found two dozen credit cards in other people's names, including the three identity theft victims; dozens of checks made out to other people, including several "washed" checks; two social security cards in other people's names; four bundles of mail never delivered to Mount Vernon residents and businesses; and 17 cell phones, some which matched phones that were used for the couples Cash App accounts and to file fraudulent credit card applications in two of the victims' names.

A supervisor at the post office declined to comment Friday. Babulal has been suspended according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Tameka Babulal, also known as Tameka Williams, Sharniece Williams and Meek Williams, is charged with theft of mail by a postal worker, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The conspiracy and bank fraud charges carry maximum prison terms of 30 years and the identity theft charge has a mandatory minimum two-year prison term.

Joel Babulal is facing only the conspiracy charge. His lawyer, Howard Tanner, declined to comment and a lawyer for his wife could not be reached.

The couple appeared in U.S. District Court in White Plains, where Tameka Babulal was released on $50,000 bond, her husband on $30,000 bond.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon mail carrier, husband arrested by feds in alleged credit card scheme