Federal authorities say a man from East Orange has admitted stealing credit cards and checks from the mail while employed as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier.

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Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna's office says 30-year-old Parrish Brookins pleaded guilty to one count of mail theft by a U.S. Postal Service officer or employee.

From January 2021 to September 2021, Brookins was employed as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier with delivery routes in Montclair and Verona.

Certain credit cards addressed to third-party victims and mailed to addresses in Verona and Montclair were stolen on numerous dates from routes worked by Brookins. These credit cards subsequently were activated and used to make and attempt to make fraudulent purchases in New Jersey and elsewhere.

Khanna says numerous stimulus checks issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury were also stolen along those same postal routes. Brookins admitted to stealing more than a dozen of them in March of 2021.

Brookins admitted in court that he had stolen numerous items of mail containing credit cards addressed to individuals living at residences on his postal delivery routes, activated some of these cards and attempted to make purchases with them. He admitted that he provided some of the stolen cards to other individuals in exchange for a fee.

The mail theft charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Sentencing is scheduled for August 15th.

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