A Washington, D.C., postal worker was found guilty last week of stealing more than $1.6 million worth of U.S. Treasury and private party checks from the mail to fund a "lavish lifestyle," officials said.
From December 2020 to March 2023, Hachikosela Muchimba, 44, an employee at the U.S. Postal Service, deposited altered checks into bank accounts under his control, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia said in a news release Friday.
Bank surveillance video captured him making deposits and withdrawals of the funds, the release said.
Muchimba used the proceeds "to fund a lavish lifestyle that included international travel, stays at luxury hotels, and purchases at gentlemen’s clubs," the U.S. attorney’s office said.
A jury Thursday found Muchimba guilty of conspiracy to commit theft of mail and bank fraud, theft of mail, bank fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity. The maximum penalty for bank fraud is 30 years in prison, and it is five years for mail theft.
Muchimba was also found guilty of unlawful procurement of citizenship or naturalization. He falsely told U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers that he had not committed any crimes for which he had not been arrested when he applied to become a naturalized citizen. The offense has a maximum penalty of 10 years of incarceration and possible administrative denaturalization.
Muchimba is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 8 and will remain in custody until then.
