MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Three US Postal Service workers were charged with mail fraud for creating a scheme allowing them to receive presents intended for underprivileged children under the Operation Santa program, Newsday reported, citing a complaint filed Wednesday in a federal court in Manhattan, New York.
Operation Santa is a century-old project in which postal workers match letters from children with "Secret Santas" – any residents willing to buy a present for a child – and then mail the gifts to the children.
"Because Operation Santa was not able to fulfil all of the requests, every gift that was fraudulently obtained by a participant in the scheme effectively deprived an underprivileged child of a gift," the complaint reads, as quoted by Newsday.
According to the New York Times, all three employees wrote letters to "Santa" pretending to be family members of non-existing children and made copies of them to increase their chances of being chosen by "Secret Santas."
In addition, two of the employees also replaced the mailing addresses on gift boxes intended for real children with their own.
