Seattle, WASHINGTON — A Samoan woman, residing in Tacoma, Washington, who pled guilty early this year to federal charges, told federal investigators that during the time she was a letter carrier for the US Postal Service, she discarded more than 200 letters into a garbage dumpster, according to an unsealed plea agreement.

Iliganoa Theresa Lauofo, 39, was charged last November, under a 17-count indictment, which includes six counts of wire fraud at the federal court in Seattle. She used identities of children living in American Samoa and Samoa to obtain federal benefits.

Early this year, she pled guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and embezzlement of mail by a postal employee.

She was then set for sentencing in April this year, and several Samoa News readers — both local and off-island — have inquired about whatever happen to this case, as it involves identifies of children in American Samoa and Samoa.

Federal court records as of last Friday, show, that sentencing has been continued to Aug. 21st this year. No explanation was given for the continuance.

According to the 16-page plea agreement unsealed by the court, Lauofo defrauded the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), by among other things, falsely reporting her own household composition to DSHS by omitting her husband and his income, and including several children living in American Samoa and Samoa at the time they were listed by Lauofo as residing with her.

In connection with her submissions to DSHS, the agreement said Lauofo also stole and/ or misused the identity information of 13 minor children who lived in American Samoa, in foreign countries, or outside of Washington state. When asked by investigators, Lauofo falsely claimed the children lived with her from 2012 through 2017 in Washington state and only recently returned to American Samoa.

In addition to receiving benefits in her own name, prosecutors said Lauofo also used the personally identifiable information of family members living in California and an acquaintance in American Samoa to apply for and receive additional DSHS benefits.

The plea agreement also provided several other examples of how the defendant defrauded DSHS. As a result of her conduct, Lauofo knowingly embezzled, stole, and converted to her own use $222,204 in DSHS-administered benefits and she is required to repay this full amount back to DSHS as part of her restitution payment, according to the plea agreement.

The agreement further states that Lauofo falsely claimed many of the same children as dependents on tax returns filed with the US Internal Revenue Service between 2011 and 2019. She collected $35,012 in tax credits and refunds to which she was not entitled. Lauofo is also required to repay this entire amount back to the IRS as part of her restitution.

The plea agreement also cited other additional identify theft acts committed by Lauofo. In addition to using stolen identifies to defraud DSHS, she used many of the same identifies — including that of her deceased ex-husband — to open fraudulent bank and credit accounts as well.

The agreement shows that she used the stolen identifies to open bank and credit accounts totaling $10,333 — which is the restitution amount she is also required to pay to the financial institutions including JP Morgan Chase Bank for more than $5,000.

During the same period that Lauofo committed fraud against DSHS, she was employed as a mail carrier for the US Postal Service between Feb. 17-May 7, 2018. The plea agreement described how Lauofo used this federal job to commit mail fraud. For example, Lauofo opened and stole mail that contained checks for other individuals, on at least two occasions.

The agreement further states that Lauofo destroyed other mail she was to deliver. Lauofo on Apr. 19, 2018 discarded and destroyed approximately 116 first-class letters, 3 first-class flats, 72 standard-rate letters and 11 standard-rate flats — none of which were addressed to her.

She discarded those items into a garbage dumpster and she later told US Postal Service investigators that she had discarded the mail to complete her mail route more quickly. “Lauofo knew that she did not have the authority to destroy the pieces of mail and she knowingly destroyed them,” the plea agreement said.

The agreement specifies punishment for each of the offenses in which the defendant pled guilty, but US prosecutors had said that the ultimate sentence will be determined by the court.