Federal Agents Say Levittown Mail Carrier Accepted Bribes To Deliver Drugs

A former U.S. Postal Service mail carrier who worked in Levittown is awaiting sentencing after admitting to a scheme to intercept and deliver priority packages of marijuana off her route in exchange for payments.

Tanya Whyte-Francis, of Philadelphia, who was assigned to delivery routes at the Levittown Post Office in Bristol Township, pleaded guilty after being charged in November 2024 with bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery, according to records from federal court.

Whyte-Francis made arrangements to hand over Priority Mail parcels shipped from California containing marijuana after making plans with 42-year-old Dewhite Dawkins, of Philadelphia, and others, authorities said.

Dawkins, a Jamaican native who also went by the names “Twin White” and “Kaleem Fraites,” also pleaded guilty in the case.

Earlier this month, his federal public defender wrote to the judge stating that Dawkins “accepts full responsibility for his actions.”

Whyte-Francis, who is free on bail, and Dawkins, who is in federal custody, are set to be sentenced next month.

An investigation by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations led to the 2024 charges.

Federal special agents launched the probe after inspectors noticed a high volume of Priority Mail packages arriving at the Levittown Post Office from California addressed to residents who did not live at the listed delivery destinations, according to court records.

Federal law enforcement officials tracked the California parcels and set up physical surveillance on Whyte-Francis’ route in Levittown.

Rather than leaving the parcels at their addressed destinations, agents observed Whyte-Francis handing the packages directly to individuals who approached her postal vehicle, investigators said.

Agents later installed a concealed camera on her postal truck, which captured repeated handoffs along her route, according to court papers.

Federal court records detail a paper and video trail tracking multiple deliveries and payoffs between February 2019 and June 2020.

On Feb. 15, 2019, Whyte-Francis scanned two California packages as delivered at 11:20 a.m. Minutes later, video recorded a person pulling up behind her postal vehicle in a silver Mercedes, where Whyte-Francis handed over the parcels — one addressed to Person A and the other to “Kaleem Fraites.” That same day, a $2,000 CashApp payment was sent to Whyte-Francis’ account from an account belonging to “Kaleem Fraites,” officials said.

A few days later on Feb. 22, 2019, Whyte-Francis was recorded handing an item marked as delivered to a person along her route. A $400 CashApp transfer from the “Kaleem Fraites” account followed that day, according to authorities.

Whyte-Francis scanned two packages delivered at 11:10 a.m. on March 2, 2019. Surveillance video captured a person walking up to the postal truck at 11:13 a.m., pulling what appeared to be cash from his left pocket, and tossing it into the back of her vehicle before taking the packages. Agents later observed a second person carrying those two parcels and a third into an apartment building, authorities said.

Through the rest of 2019, agents reportedly tracked Whyte-Francis handing off additional packages and receiving thousands of dollars in payments.

On June 23, 2020, a surveillance team observed a person in a blue Honda Civic next to the mail truck and the load of a scanned Priority Mail parcel into the trunk, investigators said.

When interviewed by federal agents, Whyte-Francis admitted she was paid roughly $400 per package to hand over the deliveries after meeting a person at a party, authorities said.

Whyte-Francis admitted to tracking the incoming shipments on her phone, retrieving the 10- to 12-pound packages from her bin at the post office, and texting a person upon the packages’ arrival. She stated she never opened the packages but believed they contained marijuana, authorities said.

According to federal court records, Dawkins had been deported from the United States in 2023 after overstaying a visitor’s visa. He returned to the country unlawfully in September 2024 and was then detained by ICE.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.