Video catches postal worker opening packages at Louisiana post office, feds say
Surveillance video at a Louisiana post office showed a mail handler illegally opening packages while on the clock, federal prosecutors said.
Jorry Harrison, 38, pleaded guilty April 24 to destruction of mail after admitting to rummaging through packages on multiple occasions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana said in an April 30 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to Harrison’s attorney May 1 but did not receive an immediate response.
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General received multiple complaints about stolen and missing mail that had gone through the New Orleans station where Harrison worked, according to court documents.
In October 2023, a package was reported after a manager noticed a tear on the bottom of the box, prosecutors said. The box, which weighed more than 4 pounds when it was dropped off now weighed 12.96 ounces, making officials believe someone had taken things out of the package, according to court documents.
Also that month, surveillance video showed Harrison going through packages, and he admitted to doing so, prosecutors said.
“(Harrison) did unlawfully secret, destroy, detain, delay, and open multiple parcels of mail, including one large brown parcel, which had come into his possession intended to be conveyed by mail,” prosecutors said.
He was indicted in July, according to court documents.
Harrison is set to be sentenced July 31 and faces up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release, prosecutors said.
Mail theft
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 May 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Video catches postal worker opening packages at Louisiana post office, feds say."
