A U.S. mailman who formerly lived in Allentown is charged with participating in a scheme to file bogus tax returns to claim $182,000 in refund checks, according to a criminal information filed last month in federal court.
The information says Callistus Joseph accepted bribes to participate in the scam between January 2019 and August 2020. He’s charged with conspiracy to steal public funds and bribery.
The information says he collaborated with an unnamed conspirator to file bogus tax returns using tax preparer ID numbers they stole from four tax preparers, including one in Allentown. The bogus returns were sent to made-up addresses for places that didn’t exist but appeared to be on Joseph’s mail route in New York City, according to the information.
Joseph handed off the refund checks to a conspirator on his mail route, the information says.