How Charlotte Post Office worker who stole $8m in checks got a 6-month sentence
With sweat on her brow and her children in tow, a pregnant Kiara Padgett sat down in front of her court-appointed attorney to talk about “the worst thing she’s ever done” and how it had landed her in federal court facing up to 30 years in prison.
It was a 100-degree day in summer 2024, defense attorney Melissa Owens recounted in court Tuesday. Padgett had gone from her shift inside an Amazon warehouse to a daycare pick-up line to the Dilworth law office. There, Owens said, she and her children were “delightful,” Owens said.
Padgett used to have a nonexistent criminal record, and she used to work as a United States Postal Service mail carrier.
Then, from August 2021 to November 2022, she stole more than 400 checks from her west Charlotte route. They totalled more than $8 million, according to court documents. Padgett’s husband, Dominique Dunlap, and another man made more than $1 million selling them online.
Padgett was in 2022 charged with 11 counts related to mail theft and bank fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. In a plea deal, prosecutors with U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson’s Office dropped all but one wire fraud charge.
On Tuesday morning, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Frick recommended Padgett be sentenced to the minimum time in prison as set out by Congress’ guidelines: 41 months.
After hearing from Owens, U.S. District Judge Susan Rodriguez went lower, sentencing the 32-year-old to six months in prison and six months in home confinement — where she can resume working and taking care of her children. Padgett must also pay about $1.6 million in restitution and serve three years on probation, Rodriguez ordered.
It was an extreme departure from the guidelines, Owens admitted in court. It was also an extreme case.
Abuse beneath Charlotte $8m mail theft case
Court documents and text messages that are under seal but were briefly detailed in court revealed that while Padgett — a USPS employee of six years — was a vital link in the mail theft scheme, she wasn’t a willing participant. Her husband threatened and coerced her into the scheme and “blew the money on his music career,” Owens said.
Of the more than $1 million made off the stolen checks, Padgett briefly saw only about $13,000, before Dunlap asked her to give it to him.
“That’s pennies compared to what was happening,” Rodriguez said. “I can read the tea leaves here and see you were in an abusive relationship and you had a spouse you were trying to please.”
That abuse motivated Rodriguez to significantly slice Padgett’s sentence, the newly-appointed judge said.
Dunlap, Padgett’s husband and co-defendant, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.
Terrell Alexander Hager Jr., who posted the stolen checks for sale online, was sentenced to three years.
