‘Mail was coming up missing’: Former Houston USPS carrier indicted in $1 million mail theft, check fraud scheme

HOUSTON – A former Houston letter carrier has been indicted by a grand jury, accused of stealing millions of dollars in checks that should have been delivered to Harris County mailboxes.

Accused ringleader Kameron Goodwin, 26, is charged with engaging in organized crime and theft. His co-conspirators include Keyshawn Jones, 25, and Sylvester Brown, 31.

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Jones’ girlfriend, Desiree Junius, and her mother, Doris Butler, have also been charged with theft in the scheme.

So far none of them have been arrested on the new charges.

Emmitt Charles, 27, received more than $20,000 in stolen checks, records show, but he was arrested and charged separately in a similar case involving fake IDs and impersonating customers to withdraw bank funds.

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“Goodwin ran a vast criminal network, stealing well over $1M in checks and brokering them to at least three bidders, who in turn washed, altered, or counterfeited the stolen checks, then deposited and stole the proceeds,” prosecutors wrote in court documents obtained by KPRC 2.

Goodwin worked at Houston’s Roy Royall Post Office, which is responsible for mail delivery in zip codes 77016, 77028, 77044, 77050 and 77078, according to a USPS spokesperson. 2020 Census data shows those zip codes have a total of about 125,000 residents.

Federal investigators from the USPS Office of Inspector General began a criminal investigation at Roy Royall in 2022, according to records, after USPS credit cards kept getting swiped for fuel at odd hours. Surveillance video later showed non-USPS vehicles being filled up with gas.

Investigators also received reports, from a mail carrier all the way to an international company, about checks not getting delivered as they expected.

“It’s like every route that he touched...people was complaining. They was getting complaints about mail was coming up missing,” a USPS employee told KPRC 2, speaking anonymously fearing retaliation.

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She said she became aware of the problems at Roy Royall.

“It made me angry at the time. I was very angry,” she said. “It is thieves working amongst the postal service right now. I’m pretty sure he’s not the only one.”

KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry is diving into the investigation tonight at 10.