The following is a press release by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama:
Dec 1, 2010
Birmingham- Two former employees of U.S. Postal Service contractors pleaded guilty today in federal court to stealing from the Postal Service, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, Postal Service Office of Inspector General Assistant Special Agent in Charge Sam Montalvo and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Domicile Coordinator Frank Dyer.
The two who entered guilty pleas today are among eight people indicted separately in September on charges of stealing or otherwise interfering with the U.S. mail. Six of those eight have now pleaded guilty, and one was admitted to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Pre-trial Diversion Program.
“Citizens and businesses trust and rely on the efficient operation of the U.S. mail system,” Vance said. “Postal employees and others who abuse this system do the country great harm. The serious nature of these crimes requires this office’s aggressive attention to punish offenders and deter anyone contemplating similar crimes.
Pleading guilty today were:
BRENDA ANN POSEY, 48, of Hazelgreen. POSEY pleaded guilty to theft of Postal Service funds exceeding $1,000, from Jan. 24, 2008, to Sept. 30, 2009, while working at a Postal contract center in Huntsville. A contract center is a location, inside a retail outlet, where Postal products can be sold.
CAROL POOLE RAMSEY, 51, of Huntsville. RAMSEY also worked at a contract center in Huntsville. She pleaded guilty to theft of Postal Service funds exceeding $1,000 between Oct. 28, 2008, and Aug. 26, 2009.
Other recent pleas to the September charges are as follows:
JENNIFER SMITH JEFFREYS, 34, Mount Hope, pleaded guilty Monday, Nov. 29, to delay and destruction of U.S. Mail from April 10 to May 29 while she worked as a rural carrier associate at the Dansville Post Office.
ROBIN JOEL BAGLEY, 45, of Birmingham, pleaded guilty Nov. 24 to delaying mail delivery and theft of mail by a Postal employee between May 28, 2009 and Oct. 8, 2009, while he worked as a mail handler in the Birmingham Processing and Distribution Center Annex.
RAYMOND EARL PETTY, 45, of Fairfield. Petty, who was not employed by the Postal Service or one of its contract centers, pleaded guilty Nov. 18 to six counts of possessing personal checks stolen from the U.S. mail between Nov. 6, 2008, and April 9, 2009.
ANGELA DENISE CRUMMIE, 51, of Tuscaloosa. Pleaded guilty Nov. 17 to delaying or destroying mail and theft of mail by a Postal employee on March 18, while she worked as a Postal carrier at the Eastside Station Post Office in Tuscaloosa.
One former employee at the Birmingham Downtown Carrier Facility, TAMEKA MOORE THOMAS, 36, of Homewood, was charged with stealing mail and articles contained therein, from May 2008 to March 2009. Thomas was admitted to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Pre-trial Diversion Program, through which she was placed on probation for 18 months. If she successfully meets the terms of her probation, the charges against her will be dismissed.
The maximum sentence for theft of government property is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum sentence for the theft of mail matter by a Postal employee; delay and destruction of mail; and possession of stolen mail matter is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The government will seek forfeiture orders in cases involving significant monetary losses in addition to required restitution orders for crime victims.
In a U.S. Postal case indicted in May, the former manager of the Midfield Post Office, ROBERT REESE, 58, of Bessemer, was sentenced Monday, Nov. 29, to five years probation, with six months home detention, 50 days community service, and was ordered to pay $9,230 restitution. REESE pleaded guilty in July to two counts of stealing government property between April 2007 and April 2008