St. Louis Postal Worker Nabbed in $89K Check & PPP Scam

ST. LOUIS – A former U.S. Postal Service employee is facing serious time after admitting to a brazen scheme involving stolen checks and pandemic relief fraud. Anthony Virdure II, 30, confessed Wednesday to pilfering checks from the mail and fraudulently securing a COVID-19 relief loan.

The case began to unravel on December 1, 2023, when U.S. Postal Inspectors were alerted by the Hazelwood Police Department about 30 stolen checks discovered in a returned rental vehicle. A forensic examination traced the checks back to the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center at 1720 Market Street – Virdure’s workplace. As a mail handler, he had unfettered access to all first-class mail passing through the facility. Investigators found his fingerprints directly on one of the stolen checks, pulled from a pilfered letter.

The investigation didn’t stop there. On January 3, 2024, the Frontenac Police Department contacted postal inspectors regarding abandoned checks found in a vacated St. Louis apartment. Once again, the trail led back to the Processing and Distribution Center and, crucially, to Virdure. His fingerprints were identified on another stolen check. A court-authorized search of Virdure’s apartment on April 30, 2024, yielded a massive haul: 298 more stolen checks, many bearing his fingerprints. The total value of the stolen checks reached a staggering $68,486.

But the check fraud wasn’t Virdure’s only hustle. He also admitted to fraudulently applying for and receiving a $20,832 Pandemic Protection Program (PPP) loan in 2021. The loan was allegedly for a business called Virdure Dynamics, a purported tobacco store. Virdure falsely claimed to be the sole proprietor and inflated the store’s gross income to $100,000 – a complete fabrication, according to prosecutors.

Virdure is now scheduled to be sentenced on November 30. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the wire fraud charge, and up to five years in prison and the same fine on the mail theft charge. He will also be required to fully repay the $89,318 he stole through both schemes. This wasn’t a victimless crime; countless individuals and businesses were impacted by his greed.

The investigation was a collaborative effort led by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Frontenac Police Department, and the Hazelwood Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case, seeking to hold Anthony Virdure II accountable for his double-dealing.

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