Metro Atlanta Postal Employee and 4 Others Charged in Thefts

A federal grand jury indicted a U.S. Postal Service employee and four others on charges of stealing nearly $600,000 in U.S. Treasury checks from a metro Atlanta distribution center.

Prosecutors say 49-year-old Deborah Fambro-Echols worked as a mail handler at a distribution center when she helped steal about $590,000 worth of checks in April 2011.

The indictment also names 34-year-old Wendy Frasier, 30-year-old Daralyn Weaver, 24-year-old Jabril McKee and 36-year-old Ohmar Braden.

It says Fambro-Echols used Frasier to recruit others to cash the stolen checks at banks and other businesses. Prosecutors charged the other three with cashing the stolen checks with the help of fake identification documents and then sharing the proceeds.

The defendants could face up to 30 years in prison. Defense attoeys could not be immediately identified.