Treasury-check serial numbers traced theft to Ruffin’s delivery route
According to federal prosecutors, Ruffin worked as a letter carrier at the Bacon Station Post Office in Indianapolis between November 2020 and May 2022. During that period, Ruffin stole checks from both incoming and outgoing mail and sold them to accomplices, who altered the checks and deposited them into bank accounts belonging to other people, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors estimate that approximately 6,500 people were affected by the scheme. One of Ruffin’s accomplices, Tony McMullen, 36, of Illinois, deposited 36 stolen checks worth approximately $235,000 and paid Ruffin more than $10,000 through 38 Cash App transactions, according to prosecutors. McMullen has since been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
Ruffin also supplied more than $12 million in stolen checks to another accomplice, John Young, 24, who recruited others to deposit the checks or sell them through the messaging application Telegram, prosecutors said. Young is awaiting sentencing. Two other accomplices, Eric Hollis, 23, of Indianapolis, and Kendall Thompson, 24, also of Indianapolis, have been sentenced to one year and one day, and four months in prison, respectively, according to prosecutors.
Investigators uncovered the scheme by mailing Treasury checks with recorded serial numbers and tracing them back to Ruffin’s delivery route, prosecutors said. In April 2024, investigators searched Ruffin’s home, vehicle and electronic devices and discovered thousands of stolen checks worth more than $20 million that had not yet been sold, according to prosecutors.
Ruffin is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 27.