Postal workers facing charges of stealing from mail (Florida)

[seafan]

Postal workers facing charges of stealing from mail

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 12, 2006

Eight postal workers in central Florida are facing criminal charges after allegedly stealing from the mail, prosecutors said.

snip

Authorities had received reports of delayed or stolen mail over the past two years that led to the charges. The eight individuals being charged, five in Orlando and three in Ocala, include mail carriers, route drivers and express-mail distribution workers. At least one was a 29-year veteran of the postal service. Several more cases are expected.

The individuals, who were not arrested, face misdemeanor counts of delay or destruction of mail, punishable by up to a year in prison.

snip

One worker allegedly took nine gift cards. Another apparently acknowledged to opening 20-30 express mail envelopes and taking items on two occasions. In two cases, investigators were able to trace Wal-Mart gift cards intended for other recipients to purchases by postal service employees.
The arrests follow a theft case in 2002 and 2003 where an employee at the main postal distribution center in Orlando helped a group of thieves steal high-value registered mail items such as jewelry and $500,000 in cash. The employee let the group know when the fewest number of employees were at the facility and disengaged security gates to assist them.

The man behind the thefts, Errol Hardial, is on probation for two years. He served 26 months in federal prison on theft and embezzlement charges.

snip

[hadrons]

1. someone at the post office was swiping my brother's netflix stuff ....

that person was returning them after viewing them (not that this make him any happier)

[LostinVA]

13. I had to cancel all my magazine subs when I lived in this one town

I NEVER got them. Of course, the PO blamed it on the magazine people... funny, all three of the mags just suddenly disappeared, after years of faithfully receiving them? My sister's People magazine is usually delivered late, with cigarette ashes often scattered in the pages.

[Lorien]

19. I live in Orlando, and some of my Netflix DVDs never made it back to

Netflix after I put them in the mailbox. There have also been a number of checks and packages that never arrived over the past few years.

Gotta get out of this town!

[Jokerman]

24. I've suspect that as well.

I can drop three netflix envelopes into the mail box at the same time but they arrive at netflix spread out over a week.

Either something is fishy at my local branch or I'm just being "throttled" by netflix.

[ugarte]

2. A misdemeanor??

Then how come if I steal from someone's mailbox, it's a freaking Federal crime?? Ridiculous.

[seafan]

4. That floored me as well. "NOT ARRESTED." "Misdemeanor charge."

Makes a person want to chew nails.

[Julius Civitatus]

6. It is a Federal crime

I don't undersatand why they are making such a generous exception here.

Political connections, maybe?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. hell...if it were drugs they'd all be charged with conspiracy

as a baseline

[Occulus]

22. they prefer to simply fire them

I work for the USPS. We had a situation a couple years back where some employees were taking the returned, unopened CDs that Columbia House etc send out, and were fencing them on the street.

I don't think that led to crimnial charges either.

[seafan]

3. Wonder if this is what happened to the 58,000 absentee ballots in 2004

that were never delivered to voters in Broward County

..... hmmmm.

[flordehinojos]

5. several years ago i sent my father a package ... the package took forever

to get there. when it got there, the turrones and other spanish food items i had sent were not in the package. the package only had in it some grapefruits from my backyard which i was also sending to him . when i went to the post office to tell them what had happened to my package, they first wanted to know if the package was insured. when i told them no, the package was not insured, the postman said, "o, well! shit happens".

to which i replied o boy things have surely changed since the post office here is no longer a federal government thing but a thing owned by yourselves the employees now posing as federal government employees...and with that i walked out.

just about a month ago when i was expecting a package which got lost from the post office tracking system, my regular mail carrier also said to me, "shit happens, you know".

yeah, shit happens, and now it's happened to a few of them!

}(

[oasis]

8. A "29 year veteran of the postal service" was involved in the thefts.

:wow: The s.o.b. was likely stealing during his entire career.

[rainbow4321]

9. Card envelopes sliced open

A relative mailed me and 2 others each cards last month...one side of all 3 envelopes were sliced opened. Perfect slice, as if a knife or some other sharp object was used. We assume they were looking to see if money was in any of the cards (birthday $, etc..). Whoever did it must have been pretty bummed to find only family pics instead of $$.

[mtnester]

10. Outside of the lack of substantial charges (I always thought mail theft..

was a felony)..the statement that struck me the most was it took them TWO YEARS to do anything about it.

[Submariner]

11. Isn't that just grand....great timing to read this story

Next week I will be mailing my 401(k) check I receive from my employer to ETRADE as a rollover IRA to avoid tax penalties. Because electronic transfer of funds is not available (I HAVE TO sign it) I have to mail it to a "P.O. box" in VA, and I was just thinking this week how I wish a street address was available so I could FedEx it instead of having to use the USPS system.

I'm crossing my fingers now after this article, and almost wishing I didn't know about it. ;( Thanks for ruining my life seafan B-)

[seafan]

16. Sorry, Submariner! We're still waiting for our absentee ballots....

Good luck!

:hi:

[Doremus]

18. Send it registered mail. Or put the envelope in a Priority box and use

delivery confirmation. Insurance wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[seafan]

12. From now on, I am going to refer to this administration as "the landfill."

There is so much stinking, rotted filth emanating from it that only a big hole in the ground and a mountain of heavy dirt over it will yield some nice fertilizer for building a new government.

In the meanwhile, get used to the stench.

[earth mom]

25. FYI-Postal employees aren't part of the * administration.

The US Postal Service is it's own entity with all proceeds going to run it and pay employees. However, Bush & Co would LOVE LOVE LOVE to get their hands on it-all that money and the retirement money too! All so they can privatize it and give it-AND WHAT A GIFT IT IS-to their cronies! So far, they've been unsuccessful because of the constitution, but given how they are trying to bust up the constitution these days, who knows what will happen? :grr:

I also want to say that I don't think it's fair to put the blame for this kind of behavior on everyone who works for the post office just because there are a few bad apples here and there. There is theft in most businesses and industries-for example, look at the baggage handlers on airlines-I seem to remember hearing about theft there too. Oh, and at Hotels, and at Restaurants, and at Department Stores too, etc., etc., etc.... :shrug:

[seafan]

26. My point was that by * calling for "postal reform",manipulating pensions

.....refusing to reimburse the US Postal Service for lost revenue secondary to federally mandated reduced mail rates, and by refusing a US Postal Service budget request for $779 million for the biotech equipment to detect anthrax and ricin....

All of this contributes to workers who feel the economic crunch and a sense of fatalism and demoralization. That, unfortunately may lead to to mail theft out of anger, despair and desperation. This is what happens when people are continually stripped of their dignity by this callous, rapacious, and unbridled administration.

We have so much to credit this administration for. (/sarcasm) And this is certainly a part of it. We all lose, in the face of what this administration is doing.



Some examples:

IGNORING POSTAL SECURITY: Despite anthrax and ricin attacks through the mail, Congressional Quarterly reported that "the president's $37 million budget request in 2005 for the U.S. Postal Service does not include $779 million for bio detection technology the agency had sought to safeguard against anthrax-like attacks."

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=43926

Budget and the US Postal Service: Reform



On the topic of the United States Postal Service, the administration’s budget document called for postal reform legislation. Specifically, it said:


The Administration continues to strongly support efforts to enact comprehensive postal reform legislation that fosters a healthy Postal Service for future generations. The US Postal Service provides an important service to the American people and the economy, and the Administration believes that the Postal Service should continue providing affordable and reliable universal service, while limiting exposure to taxpayers and operating appropriately in the competitive marketplace.



Postal reform must be accomplished in a responsible manner that is fair to taxpayers, ratepayers, and Postal Service employees. It must be consistent with the principles of best governance practices, transparency, flexibility, accountability, and self-finance, as expressed by the President in December 2003, and not have an adverse impact on the Federal budget.



To this end, the Administration supports reforms that: allow the Postal Service pricing flexibility, but within a firm annual Consumer Price Index rate cap and with a strict limit on the circumstances when rates can exceed the cap; require compliance with all Securities and Exchange Commission financial reporting standards; and permit greater flexibility in the use of negotiated service agreements and worksharing arrangements.



In addition, the 2007 Budget proposes to use the pension savings provided to the by the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-18) that would otherwise be held in escrow in 2006 and beyond, to put the Postal Service on a path that fully funds its substantial retiree health benefits liabilities.

http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/dispnewsstand?article=4430+++++

For the U.S. Postal Service, which generally does not get taxpayer dollars for its operations, the administration proposes to stop reimbursing it, as required by law, for lost revenue attributable to legislatively mandated reduced mail rates. Congress in 1994 had authorized $1.2 billion to repay the USPS in $29 million increments. Bush proposes to end the $29 million appropriation because "USPS is now benefiting from pension savings of approximately $3 billion per year" as a result of other legislation to re-estimate its pension costs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42369-2005Feb21.html

[cureautismnow]

14. Reminds me of the old Barney Miller episode.

They brought a mail carrier into the precinct for NOT delivering mail. He stored a bunch of it at his house. He just shrugged it off when they questioned him. Paraphrasing from memory, " ...So what? Is there a problem? I was doing people a favor by not delivering junk mail to them..." The policemen just called him a fat, lazy slob. Hilarious. :7

[LostinVA]

15. I ALWAYS send important stuff via UPS or even Fed-Ex Ground

Isn't that a sad statement on our postal system? I've even paid extra to send stuff Priority with tracking numbers, and have had them take 2-3 weeks to arrive... or even never show up. I've never had a problem with UPS.

[The Deacon]

17. My uncle used to be a postal inspector

Said the hardest thing about the job was proving that items were taken (which would be theft & therefore a felony) and usually had to settle for "delaying the mail", a misdemeanor. After some fifteen years of this he requested to transfer back to being a letter carrier & retired a happy man. Good letter carriers often build relationships with people on their routes. In Kansas I helped administer a program jointly sponsored by the Post Office and Red Cross where letter carriers maintained a watchful eye on senior citizens - if the participating senior changed their usual habits of picking up their mail (suddenly not picking up their mail for two or three days without notifying the carrier they were going on vacation, not accepting their mail in person when that was their habit, etc) the Postmaster would notify my office & we would try to contact the senior and, failing that, a person who was designated to check on the senior (with keys to the house.) I remember one time I had to go to the length of requesting the local police do a "health & welfare" check because I couldn't contact the senior or the designated person - the resident, the designated person & the police all showed up at the house at the same time (the resident had visited a friend across town & at the last minute decided to spend the night & then go shopping in Wichita in the morning, didn't get home 'til late, spent another night at the friend's house.)
PLEASE don't paint all postal employees with the same brush - I've known many caring postal workers who do a fine job in difficult circumstances & I've known some I wouldn't brake my truck for if they were in the street. How good they are at their jobs is usually a matter of how good a human being they are - so complain to a supervisor when they fall short, but don't take a cynical view & paint every one with a stereotype.

[newportdadde]

20. I've had issues with Gamefly a game rental service.

It seems to only happen on popular, new expensive games. It also seems to always occur when the game is coming to me from CA and if the game is sent out on Wednesday it is particularly bad. I've often wondered if its someone working a particular shift or someone filling in like a part-time flex on Wednesdays.

As a side note my father works for the Postal Service and I believe 99.9% of them are good folks who just want to get through the day without a supervisor riding their ass.

[pecwae]

21. The V.A. in Johnson City, TN

had to contract with UPS for delivery of drugs to area vets (I was one) because of so many "lost" prescriptions through the PO in Mountain City, TN. A visitor at my neighbor's house had heart meds expressed mailed to him which were never received because the postal supervisor in that area decided since the guy's name wasn't on the mailbox the drugs deserved to be put in undeliverable status. Another woman I knew on Medicare had to call her mail-in pharmacy and have them ship any other way except the USPS because none of her asthma and heart meds were getting to her.

Why aren't these people arrested and facing felony charges?

[Javaman]

23. Newman! nt

[Nikia]

27. My grandparent's mail carrier stole people's food stamps

Back before the cards. Her route had several people getting them so she stole different people's food stamps different times.
This crime needs to be punished severely. There is too much potential for this sort of thing if it isn't punished severely.

[Blue_Tires]

28. it wouldn't surprise me

mail theft was common when i was in college, and even today half of the letters i get in the mail are already half-opened

[Hekate]

29. The result of yet another "privatized" government function

Personally, I think the US Postal Service used to run a lot better when the employees were civil servants.

Hekate