16 Postal Workers Took Bribes To Deliver Cocaine: Feds

ATLANTA, GA — Sixteen U.S. Postal workers, including one from Gwinnett County, accepted bribes in exchange for delivering cocaine for a man they believed was a drug dealer, federal prosecutors say.

The postal workers from throughout metro Atlanta were arrested after a sting operation, during which they're accused of agreeing to deliver the cocaine in exchange for money.

Aurthamis O. "Tank" Burch, 46, of Snellville was one of the 16 people named in a federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday. Burch was a letter carrier assigned to the Doraville Post Office.

According to U.S. Attorney Joe Horn, the suspects accepted bribes from someone they believed was a drug trafficker shipping multiple kilograms of cocaine into the Atlanta area. In exchange for the bribe, they provided special addresses the supposed drug trafficker could use to ship the packages.

They would intercept the packages when they were sent to those addresses and bring them to the trafficker — who actually was working with law enforcement officers — Horn said.

The packages they delivered actually contained fake drugs.

Some of the defendants went on to recruit more Postal Service employees to join the scheme, prosecutors say. They allegedly accepted additional money for doing so.

"Postal employees are entrusted to perform a vital service as they travel through our communities, often visiting our homes and interacting personally with our citizens," Horn said. "The defendants in this case allegedly sold that trust out to someone they knew to be a drug dealer and, simply for cash in their pockets, they were willing to endanger themselves and the residents on their routes and bring harmful drugs into the community."

The other defendants named in the indictment are:

• Cydra Rochelle Alexander, 31, of Riverdale
• Kawana Rashun Champion, 35, of Jonesboro
• Eleanor Lolita Golden, a/k/a Eleanor Johnson, 54, of East Point
• Tonie Harris, 54, of Decatur
• Leea Janel Holt, 38, of Atlanta
• Clifton Curtis Lee, 41, of Lithonia
• Shakeed Anilah Magee, 40, of College Park
• Horace Manson, 40, of Roswell
• Olivia Marita Moore, 25, of Atlanta
• Eddie Nash, 63, of Decatur
• Jeffrey A. Pearson, 59, of Austell
• Rodney Antwain Salter, 33, of Jonesboro
• Frank Webb, 40, of Lithonia
• Katrina Nicole Wilson, 38, of Fairburn
• Harvel Donta Young, a/k/a Dante, 39, of Atlanta

Dexter Bernard Frazier, 56, of Fairburn, also was charged based, on his alleged role in introducing several of the defendants to the drug trafficker and coordinating logistics of the scheme in exchange for payments.

Alexander, Burch, Champion, Frazier, Golden, Harris, Holt, Lee, Magee, Manson, Moore, Nash, Salter, Webb, Wilson, and Young have been arrested and will be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda T. Walker.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, and U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General Assistant U.S. Attorneys Garrett L. Bradford and Jill E. Steinberg are prosecuting the case.

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