Former FedEx hub employees indicted in shipping theft case

According to the indictment, three FedEx employees allegedly rerouted wireless devices to two co-conspirators in a shipping theft scheme that defrauded FedEx of more than $1.7 million, the Department of Justice said in a statement.    Five men, including three who worked at Federal Express’s hub in Memphis, have been indicted for their alleged roles in a shipping theft scheme that defrauded FedEx of more than $1.7 million.
   The defendants are former FedEx material handler Christopher T. Crawford, 31, Memphis; Akeem Gowdy, 23, Memphis, another former FedEx material handler; former FedEx supervisor Tavaris Mickens, 23, Memphis; and co-conspirators Juan Royal, 24, New York City, and Jordan West, 27, New York City.
   According to the indictment, throughout 2013 and 2014, all five defendants engaged in a conspiracy to commit interstate shipping theft of wireless mobile devices from both Verizon and AT&T. The mobile devices were being shipped throughout the United States by FedEx.
   Crawford, Gowdy and Mickens, who worked for FedEx during the scheme, used “fraudulent FedEx corporate shipping accounts to print labels, which they used to over-label boxes of wireless devices. These boxes were diverted to other known and unknown co-conspirators in New York City and other cities through interstate commerce. Each box of merchandise contained thousands of dollars worth of Verizon and/or AT&T wireless mobile devices,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
   According to the indictment, each of the defendants knew the wireless devices were stolen when they engaged in acts to perpetrate the crime. Ultimately, the interstate shipping theft scheme defrauded FedEx of more than $1.7 million, according to the DOJ.
   All five defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of interstate shipping theft each. The defendants face individual sentences of up to 10 years imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000 for each count.
   Crawford and West are also charged with one count of mail fraud, and Crawford is also charged with one count of wire fraud.
   The case is being investigated by the United States Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Memphis Cargo Theft Task Force.