FRANKFORT, Ky., Nov. 29 — The U.S. Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s office for Eastern District of Kentucky issued the following press release:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General jointly announced today that two U.S. mail carriers have admitted to stealing mail packages containing prescription pills.

Pamela J. Hawkins, 40, pleaded guilty today to theft of mail matter and in a separate case, James Carter, 40, pleaded guilty to the same charge yesterday.

Hawkins admitted that she took 10 to 11 drug parcels, over the past year and a half, that were intended for veterans living in Lawrenceburg, Ky. The parcels contained hydrocodone pills.

Carter admitted that while working for the Lexington Processing and Distribution Center, he stole up to 60 drug shipments, consisting primarily of hydrocodone, that were intended for veterans living in Lexington, Georgetown, Louisville, Morehead, Nicholasville, Danville, London, Corbin, Pikeville, and Manchester among other cities in Kentucky.

According to Carter’s plea agreement, on February 11, 2009, investigators conducted surveillance on Carter while he was working and approached him as he was about to leave work for the day. They found drugs in his pockets, sock and vehicle.

The investigation into both cases started after the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General received complaints from individuals who weren’t receiving the drug parcels mailed to them by the Department of Veterans Affairs. There is no evidence in either case that the defendants were distributing the pills.

The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney David A. Marye represented the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this case.

Hawkins will appear for sentencing in Frankfort on March 13 and Carter will appear in Lexington for his sentencing on March 1. If convicted, both defendants face a maximum prison sentence of five years. However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of sentences.

BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted two U.S. Postal employees for several mail-related violations, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Kenny Smith, assistant special agent in charge, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service.

The grand jury charged the two Postal Service employees in separate indictments with delaying mail delivery and mail theft by postal employees:

SUSAN KIRKLAND JACKSON, 50, of Glencoe, who worked as a mail carrier at the East Gadsden Post Office, was charged in a three-count indictment with delaying and destroying mail between Dec. 19, 2010, and Feb. 9, 2011.

SUE ANN MORIARTY, 31, of Harvest, who worked as a part-time mail carrier at the Huntsville Downtown Post Office, was charged in a four-count indictment with delaying and destroying mail between Dec. 14, 2010, to March 2, 2011.

The crimes of Theft of Mail Matter by a Postal Employee and Delay and Destruction of Mail are punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Businesses and citizens alike trust and rely on the efficient operation of the U.S. mail,” Vance said. “Postal employees and others who abuse this system do the country a great disservice. Anyone who steals from or disrupts delivery of U.S. mail in northern Alabama should expect to be prosecuted.”

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General investigated the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank M. Salter is prosecuting the cases.

via USDOJ: US Attorney’s Office – Northern District of Alabama.

Postal Service customers take note — usps.com recently posted a warning about email scammers using the Postal Service’s name to access valuable personal information.

Customers being targeted receive bogus emails with subject lines containing the text: “USPS Delivery Failure Notification.” The emails claim to be from the Postal Service and contain fraudulent information about an attempted or intercepted package delivery. The emails instruct customers to click on a link to find out when they can expect delivery.

Clicking on the link activates a virus, which can steal personal information — such as usernames, passwords and financial account information — stored on the computer.

Customers should simply delete the message and take no further action unless they choose to report the email as spam by contacting abuse@usps.gov.

The email scam is similar to a telemarketing scam uncovered by the Postal Inspection Service in which fraudsters masquerading as USPS employees were phoning residents and requesting birth dates and Social Security numbers as requirements for package delivery (Link, 10/31).

Corporate Information Security Officer Chuck McGann offers these tips on spotting bogus emails:

• The text contains poor grammar or spelling errors.
• The text states immediate action must be taken or customer could face dire consequences.
• The email requests personal information under the guise of re-confirming information.
• The text from an “automated message system” states “Click on this link for details.”

Customers with questions about a delivery by the Postal Service should call 800-ASK-USPS.

via USPS News Link – Nov. 18, 2011.

WASHINGTON – Ron Middlebrooks, a former senior executive with the U.S. Postal Service, was sentenced today to two years of incarceration on a bribery charge stemming from his acceptance of $15,000 in cash from a businessman he promised to reward with government contracts, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Unbeknownst to Middlebrooks, the businessman was working with law enforcement.

Middlebrooks, 47, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, pled guilty in August 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to receipt of a bribe by a public official. The Honorable James E. Boasberg sentenced him today. Upon completion of his prison term, Middlebrooks will be placed on two years of supervised release. As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to resign from the Postal Service.

“This defendant was caught red-handed shaking down a government contractor for bribes,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “He used his position of government trust for personal gain, but his corruption was exposed by an ethical contractor and dedicated federal agents. This prosecution demonstrates our commitment to holding accountable those who would seek to sell out the public trust for personal gain.”

According to a statement of facts submitted to the Court, Middlebrooks was the Postal Service’s director of International Civilian and Military Transportation and Networks, a senior executive position that was based in Washington, D.C. His official duties included managing international networks for civilian and military mail, including logistics contracts for all classes of mail worldwide. He also was responsible for developing and implementing contingency plans to ensure that disruptions of global civilian, military, and/or international mail operations were resolved quickly and effectively, including during times of war.

In November 2010, Middlebrooks met with an executive for a business identified in the court filings as Company A, a freight shipping airline with government contracts with the U.S. Postal Service. He told the executive that he wanted Company A to buy two real estate properties from him, which he owned personally. In exchange, Middlebrooks would provide the company with increased business transporting mail for the Postal Service.

The executive contacted Middlebrooks for a follow-up meeting. Unbeknownst to Middlebrooks, however, the executive was cooperating with law enforcement. On two occasions, on Dec. 13, 2010 and then again on Jan. 5, 2011, Middlebrooks accepted money from the executive with the understanding that he would reward Company A with business. Both times, the men discussed plans for Company A to purchase Middlebrooks’s real estate properties.

During the first meeting, the defendant accepted an envelope containing $10,000 in cash. Following this meeting, Middlebrooks directed that Company A receive an emergency contract to ship international mail that needed to be shipped on short notice.

In December 2010 and early January 2011, Middlebrooks and the executive had several telephone conversations discussing how Middlebrooks would increase the company’s business with the Postal Service in exchange for the company purchasing his properties at an above-market value price that he had set.

During the second meeting, Middlebrooks accepted an envelope containing $5,000 in cash. During that meeting, Middlebrooks told the executive, “you’re gonna be sure as hell glad you met me” because he intended to follow up and increase Company A’s business.

Authorities recovered $13,400 from Middlebrooks after his arrest, and he subsequently paid back the other $1,600 that he took in the scheme.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen thanked those who worked on the case from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General, including Sheila Brock and Samuel Simpkins. He also commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Sroka, who assisted with asset forfeiture, Paralegal Shanna Hays, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Haray, who prosecuted the case.

RICHARD S. HARTUNIAN, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, announced that EMMANUEL C. CLOTHAKIS, JR., age 57, of Sherrill, New York, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Syracuse to serve a 41 month term of imprisonment and three years of supervised release following his guilty plea to an assault on a U.S. Postal letter carrier in the City of Oneida on March 19, 2011. Clothakis pled guilty to punching the letter carrier in the face as he
delivered mail to the Access Federal Credit Union in the City of Oneida, New York. The letter carrier sustained a fractured nose as the result of the assault.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Emmanuel Odion Esezobor was convicted by a federal jury yesterday of one count of theft of public money and seven counts of passing counterfeit U.S. obligations, United States Attorney Melinda Haag, Special Agent in Charge Nichole Cooper of the Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Pacific Area Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Andrew Adelmann of the U.S. Secret Service San Francisco Field Office announced.

The jury found that Esezobor stole $13,800 from the U.S. Postal Service and passed counterfeit bills at the Alamo Post Office on seven different days in February and March 2011. The guilty verdict followed a 3-day jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken.

Evidence at trial showed that Esezobor, 51 of Hayward, Calif., issued himself $13,800 worth of U.S. postal money orders and purported to pay for those money orders with counterfeit $100 bills. Esezobor knew these bills were counterfeit and had passed similar counterfeit bills at his credit union in Hayward in November 2010.

“Today’s verdict sends a clear message that theft by a postal employee is a very serious crime and will not be tolerated,” Special Agent in Charge Cooper of the Postal Service Office of Inspector General said. “The overwhelming majority of Postal Service employees are honest, trustworthy individuals. But when a postal employee, such as Mr. Esezobor, betrays that trust, Postal Service Office of Inspector General Special Agents vigorously investigate those matters. This conviction reflects the continuing commitment of both the OIG and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring to account those who violate the law.”

Special Agent in Charge Adelmann of the Secret Service added, “This verdict reinforces the effectiveness law enforcement partnerships and collaboration on joint investigations has on addressing serious violations of federal law.”

Esezobor was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 14, 2011.

The sentencing of Esezobor is scheduled for Jan. 31, 2011, before U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland. The maximum statutory penalty for theft of public money, in violation 18 U.S.C. § 641, is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of passing counterfeit U.S. obligations, in violation 18 U.S.C. § 472, is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Brian Lewis and Joshua Hill are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Noble Hughes, Janice Pagsanjan, and Vanessa Vargas. The prosecution is the result of a year-long investigation by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Secret Service.

via Press Release – United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California.

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Karina S. Beard, 44, of Turlock, pleaded guilty today to four counts of mail fraud and two counts of federal Workers’ Compensation fraud.

According to the plea agreement, from October 2006 through January 2009, Beard received federal workers’ compensation benefits for an on-the-job injury she sustained in 2000 while working for the Postal Service. Because of her claimed injuries, restrictions were placed on her physical activities. According to the plea, Beard performed various physical tasks using the purportedly injured part of her body, such as horseback riding.

According to court documents, Beard made false claims on a United States Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) form. The OWCP is required to make an inquiry of every claimant who receives total disability benefits to ascertain whether the claimant has had any employment, earnings, or changes in their medical condition over the previous 15 months. In compliance with regulations, OWCP sends out a questionnaire to each claimant. Claimants reporting changes in employment, earnings, or their medical condition on the questionnaire may experience a reduction or termination of benefits.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy R. Jehangiri is prosecuting the case.

Beard is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on January 9, 2012. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of mail fraud. For each count of federal Workers’ Compensation fraud, the maximum statutory penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The following information was released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island:

A United States Postal Service employee was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Providence, R.I., with allegedly stealing cash from greeting cards sent through the mail as they were being processed at the United States Postal Service’s Processing and Distribution Center in Providence.

Robert J. Hart, Jr., 49, of Cranston, R.I., charged with theft of mail by an employee of the United States Postal Service, was released on $10,000 unsecured bond after an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond.

The arrest of Hart was announced by U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Jane Hughes, Special Agent in Charge of the northeast area United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG).

According to an Affidavit in support of a criminal complaint and arrest warrant, it is alleged that on September 26, 2011, an investigator from the USPS OIG recovered 106 pieces of rifled mail that had been processed at the Providence Processing and Distribution Center on September 24 and 25, 2011. All of the rifled mail was first class greeting cards mailed from outside of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The mail had allegedly been slit open cleanly along the top seam and cash allegedly removed from cards which had the hinge of the greeting card face down. Cash was not removed from some of the opened cards which had the hinge facing up.

The Affidavit alleges that on October 11, 2011, agents from the USPS OIG recovered 97 rifled first class greeting cards processed between October 1 and October 10, 2011. None of the recovered mail which had the hinge facing down contained cash.

According to the court document, on October 12, 2011, USPS OIG agents placed two pieces of mail which contained greeting cards with marked $20 bills in processing trays to be handled by Hart and conducted surveillance of Hart’s actions. Hart’s actions allegedly included the removal of a cutting instrument from his pocket as he processed the mail. The greeting cards placed by agents for processing by Hart were allegedly slit open and the marked $20 bills allegedly removed. Hart was confronted by the agents and the marked $20 bills were allegedly located in Hart’s pocket.

A Criminal Complaint is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted of theft of mail by an employee of the United States Postal Service, Hart faces up to 5 years in federal prison; 3 years supervised release; and a $250,000 fine.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Rogers.

ERIE, Pa. – A resident of Titusville, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to one year probation and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $1,339.94 on her conviction of misappropriation of postal funds, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Senior United States District Judge Maurice B. Cohill, Jr. imposed the sentence on Cortney Tarr, 28.

According to information presented to the court, Tarr embezzled numerous postal money orders while she was employed as a Postmaster Relief employee.

Assistant United States Attorney Marshall J. Piccinini prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Tarr.

via USDOJ: US Attorney’s Office – Western Pennsylvania.

The following information was released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri:

Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former postal employee was charged in federal court today with stealing hundreds of Netflix movies, gift cards and other mail.

Felipe S. Lara, 35, of Blue Springs, Mo., waived his right to a grand jury and was charged in a federal information with theft of mail matter by an employee.

Lara was employed as a rural carrier associate for the U.S. Postal Service. From June 19, 2009, through Feb. 15, 2011, Lara allegedly removed 120 Netflix DVDs and approximately 1,000 pieces of mail, including gift cards valued at $215, from the mail that he was supposed to deliver in the 64151-64155 zip codes.

According to court documents, the federal investigation began when Netflix alerted the Postal Service about high volume losses in those zip codes. Investigators conducted a trash pull at Lara’s residence and found hundreds of pieces of mail that weren’t addressed to him. A search warrant was executed on Feb. 15, 2011, and investigators found the DVDs from Netflix and the gift cards, as well as two black trash bags that contained 444 pieces of mail, 80 rifled envelopes and several magazines, none of which was addressed to Lara.

The total loss alleged as a result of Lara’s actions is $2,560, which includes individual victim losses of $513 and Netflix losses of $2,046.