San Gabriel Valley Woman Pleads Guilty to Defrauding US Postal Service

A San Gabriel Valley woman accused of using counterfeit stamps on tens of millions of packages pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding the US Postal Service of more than $150 million.

Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of using counterfeit postage, according to a Justice Department statement.

Chen, a Walnut resident, has been in federal jail since her arrest in May 2023. A co-defendant, 51-year-old Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, who authorities say is a fugitive hiding in China, has been charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, three counts of passing and possessing counterfeit US obligations, and one count of forging and counterfeiting postage stamps.

From January 2020 to May of last year, prosecutors allege that the couple delivered over 34 million goods using bogus postage labels. According to Chen’s plea deal, she and Hu established and managed a package shipping enterprise in the City of Industry that provided US Mail shipping for Chinese logistics companies.

Authorities suspect that Hu then began printing duplicate and counterfeit NetStamps in order to save money on postage.

According to officials, Hu fled to China in November 2019 after learning that federal authorities were investigating him. He continued to make counterfeit mail in order to evade detection. Federal authorities say he used a computer application to create shipping labels.

Meanwhile, Chen stayed in San Gabriel Valley, managing the warehouses where the two shipped products for their firm. In 2020, the two began using counterfeit stamps to ship products via US Mail. Authorities said they would obtain items from Chinese companies and use phony postage to transport them via the Postal Service. According to court documents, the red flags triggered by fraudulent postage included the reuse of “intelligent barcode data” that had already been applied to other mailed items. These details are used to prove that the labels were paid for prior to shipment.

Authorities said Chen and Hu delivered multiple items containing fraudulent Priority Mail postage. Chen’s plea bargain states that she will forfeit cash from her bank accounts, insurance policies, and real estate in Chino, Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, South El Monte, Walnut, and West Covina. She is set to be sentenced in August and could face up to five years in jail for each count.

“This defendant participated in a fraud scheme that caused massive losses to our nation’s postal service,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “My office will continue to focus on holding fraudsters accountable and bringing justice to victims everywhere.”