Postal worker with stolen mail in car swiped over $750K in US Treasury checks, feds say
A postal employee was caught with dozens of stolen U.S. Treasury checks inside his car when a traffic stop turned into a search of his vehicle in North Carolina, federal prosecutors said.
Fayetteville police officers found 47 checks — which included federal tax refunds, Veterans Affairs benefits and Social Security disability benefits that were mailed to other people — in Zerion Marcos Franklin’s car in June, prosecutors said.
Franklin stole more than $750,000 in U.S. Treasury checks while working at the U.S. Postal Service’s mail processing facility in Fayetteville, about a 65-mile drive southwest from Raleigh, an investigation revealed, according to prosecutors.
Now, a judge has sentenced Franklin to four years in prison in connection with the thefts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a Dec. 27 news release.
“Most postal employees honor their oath, faithfully delivering billions of parcels every year,” U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley, Jr. said in a statement.
“This postal employee is the rare exception, stealing three quarters of a million dollars in U.S. Treasury funds, including tax refunds, from the mail and robbing hardworking American taxpayers in the process,” Easley said of Franklin.
Franklin’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Dec. 30.
After officers pulled Franklin over in June, they searched his car because they spotted “drug paraphernalia in plain view,” prosecutors said.
Franklin had marijuana “packaged for sale,” a loaded 9mm handgun and more than $22,000 — in addition to the 47 U.S. Treasury checks — in his vehicle, according to prosecutors.
Sometime afterward, Franklin was linked to a tax refund check that was reported as stolen from the mail by an older customer who lived in New Hanover County, about a 95-mile drive southeast from Fayetteville, prosecutors said.
The tax refund, which belonged to the customer, was altered to include Franklin’s name instead of hers, according to prosecutors.
It had been cashed at a Fayetteville Walmart in May 2023, prosecutors said.
As part of Franklin’s sentence, which will be followed by three years of supervised release, he owes the U.S. Treasury restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kathleen Woodson, the special agent in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Office of the Inspector General, said in a statement: “The vast majority of Postal Service employees are honest, hardworking individuals who would not violate the public’s trust in this manner.”
“An employee who decides otherwise, will be aggressively investigated by OIG special agents,” Woodson added.
Mail theft in the US
During the early COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sharp increase in mail theft complaints, according to a September 2023 report issued by the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General.
From March 2020 through February 2021, there were 299,020 mail theft complaints – a 161% increase “compared to the same period in the previous year,” the report said.
Suspected mail theft can be reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service online or by calling 1-877-876-2455.
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Postal worker with stolen mail in car swiped over $750K in US Treasury checks, feds say."
.jpg)