Seattle postal worker charged in check thefts

When postal worker Trevor L. McBee suddenly deposited a check for $208,307.45 in his wife's bank account in June, he told her they'd won the lottery, court documents say.

But the truth was that McBee, a substitute carrier for the U.S. Postal Service's Interbay substation in Seattle, had been swiping business checks from his routes and depositing them, according to federal charges unsealed Tuesday.

McBee was charged Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle with mail theft and bank fraud. He was arrested in Seattle on Tuesday morning and appeared before Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida, who released him on bond.

Charging documents say McBee had been a postal worker since August 2004, and most recently worked in the Interbay carrier annex sorting mail and filling in on delivery routes.

In early July, a postal inspector discovered that McBee had been depositing stolen business checks into his wife's bank account since March, the charges say. The checks were bound for various businesses in the Interbay area.

McBee's big score came in mid-June, when he found the $208,000 check, from a Spokane construction company to an Interbay drywall business, the charges say. He forged the endorsement, deposited it, told his wife they were big winners, paid off bills and bought a Lexus, prosecutors added.

All told, prosecutors have tallied about $220,000 in stolen checks, the documents say.

A local postal-service spokesman, Ernie Swanson, did not return a phone message Tuesday to answer questions about McBee's employment.

Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com