Postal worker targeted bright envelopes in group’s $95K mail theft scheme in RI, feds say
A man accused of taking part in a scheme to steal mail while briefly working for the U.S. Postal Service was sentenced to three years of probation, federal prosecutors in Rhode Island said.
The sentence came after the 32-year-old from Providence pleaded guilty to theft of mail by a postal employee and conspiracy to steal mail, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island said in a Feb. 27 news release.
McClatchy News couldn’t immediately reach the man’s attorneys Feb. 28 for comment.
The man worked as a seasonal postal employee for about a month in 2023, prosecutors said.
In December of that year, “when (the man) participated in the conspiracy, $95,000 in cash, gift cards, and checks were illegally removed from the U.S. mail stream and stolen by (him) and others,” prosecutors said.
The man and others “placed aside brightly colored envelopes of interest” while sorting mail at a facility in Providence, and then took them offsite, according to prosecutors. They met up later “to open the stolen mail and remove cash, gift cards, and checks,” divvying it up, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said charges are pending against five other former postal workers.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Postal worker targeted bright envelopes in group’s $95K mail theft scheme in RI, feds say."
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