AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885

OCTOBER 27, 2005

WIFE OF FORMER BWI BAGGAGE HANDLER SENTENCED FOR POSSESSION OF STOLEN MAIL

BALTIMORE, Maryland - United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announces that today U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis sentenced Olushola Oladapo, age 46, of Lanham, Maryland to 5 years in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release following her conviction on May 25, 2005 by a federal jury of possession of stolen mail.

According to evidence presented at trial, Ms. Oladapo received mail stolen from BWI airport by her husband, Kehinde Oladapo, who was a baggage and cargo handler for Southwest Airlines. Ms. Oladapo then remailed the stolen mail, which contained credit cards, convenience checks, and other financial instruments to various individuals in the New York area, who then resold or processed these materials for further distribution and use.

Testimony at trial showed that the execution search warrants during the investigation resulted in Postal Inspectors finding stolen mail in a package mailed from the BWI post office. Additional search warrants were executed on September 4, 2004 at three locations in Maryland and New York, with Inspectors at one of the New York locations recovering bags of opened and unopened mail, as well as hundreds of bank convenience checks and credits cards issued to consumers across the United States. Four credit cards in the names of other individuals, as well as several Express Mail envelopes, one to one of the Brooklyn addresses, were found in Olushola Oladapo’s purse at the couple’s residence. In addition, the Postal Inspection Service Crime Laboratory identified Olushola Oladapo’s fingerprints on an Express Mail label for a package sent to Brooklyn which contained stolen mail, checks and credit cards. Her fingerprints were also recovered from a handwritten list of names, addresses and social security numbers belonging to victims of identity theft and fraud.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Inspectors from both Maryland and New York for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Tamera Fine and Kwame J. Manley, who prosecuted the case.