Former Elgin, OK Postmaster must pay the U.S. Postal Service $643,604.49 and IRS $129,061.66 for a total of $771,666.15. The former Postmaster was sentenced to 37
months in federal prison for theft of public funds from the United States Postal Service and for filing a false tax return.
The following is a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma:
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Today, JAMES E. DRAHEIM, 63, from Elgin, Oklahoma, was sentenced by United States District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti to serve 37 months in federal prison for theft of public funds from the United States Postal Service and for filing a false tax return, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. In addition, Judge DeGiusti ordered Draheim to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term and pay restitution of $643,604.49 the Postal Service and $129,061.66 to the IRS.
Draheim was employed as the Postmaster in Elgin, Oklahoma, and from October 2005 through September 2009 used his position of trust to embezzle from the United States Postal Service.
Specifically, Draheim took money paid by postal customers for bulk mailings, failed to credit the customer’s account for the full amount of the check, and then embezzled the difference by purchasing money orders in his own name which he then used for his own personal benefit.
Draheim pled guilty on September 28, 2010, to theft of public funds and filing a false tax return for the 2008 tax year.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Criminal Investigative Division of the Internal Revenue Service.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vicki Zemp Behenna.
Dont do the crime if you can’t do the time. DON’T DO IT!
Charcter has demonstrated potential for a VP position as USPS headquarters.Exective potential outstanding demonstration for PFP.
James is a piece of crap but his wife Joanne is just as bad after all she helped spend the money as did their kids. You realise that he will keep his federal pension don’t you? How ironic is it that he will get a pention from the very people he stole from! They need to investigate the rest of his family I am sure he has a stash of cash with them. Remember the $600K is what he got busted with I am sure there is more. James may you nights be filled with lonely prisoners and may you never see freedom alive.
Lil Daddy, Was only joking. 🙂 (a bit of immaturity on my part, but couldn’t resist the temptation of saying it) So many times people say stupid, annoying things, if you cannot beat them join them.
Oh get real BJ.I just wish he would of got more time for stealing fror ou jobs.I hope while in prison he get’s a real mail delivery in the rear like mgmt does to us.
boy he sure got away with this scheme for a long time to be able to profit 600 grand. let a window clerk use one bogus money order and all hell would break lose. they promote these nitwits who think just because they got promoted that makes them better and smarter than the the people they think they rose above and left behind. snickering at them laughing because they can now order these same people around and they have to do it so they will keep their jobs. they end up believing that they are smarter and better than the average bear and this is what happens when they believe their own hype. hoping to see the postal inspectors go after some more of these crooks who think they are above the rules because they were able to con someone into making them a manager. they are no better than anyone else but think they are. some of them i swear never even got a GED but are put in a position of power and abuse it they do. i had a post master once who got clipped for stealing stamp stock he deserved everything he got and more. and the reason i feel that way is because i think he became a manager because he was lazy as hell and knew he could make more and do nothing and get all the perks and benefits of being a manager, oh the life. well the postal inspectors gave him a box told him to put his gear in it and get out of the post office and don’t ever come back. he cried like a baby, but laughed when an employee came up short on their drawer. pig.
If postmaster paid union dues, his union should have helped him out. The postmaster had been falsely accused. It was somebody else who really did it.
At last some reasonable prison time for stealing. Bravo! Now if the Postal Service would continue going after these thieves within and associated with the USPS maybe most of these crimes would stop. Many continue to do it knowing they won’t see any prison time. Eventually it will come back to bite you. Crime doesn’t pay.