By Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — A veteran postal carrier admitted Thursday to stealing nearly 30,000 letters containing cash, checks or money orders that he was supposed to deliver to a charity on his mail route in Berwyn, Ill., federal authorities said.
Frederick L. Taylor, stole $275,000 meant for the charity over the year-long scheme, according to a guilty plea he entered at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. But it was unclear how much money he actually pocketed because checks made out to the charity made up most of the stolen funds. He pocketed more than $17,700 in cash, authorities said.
The purloined donations, taken between August 2010 and August 2011, came from some 25,000 different donors, authorities said. The charity was not identified in court documents.
Taylor, 41, who worked in the Berwyn post office from 1999 to 2011, pleaded guilty to one felony count of possessing stolen mail during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. He faces up to five years in prison at his scheduled sentencing on Nov. 19.
“It’s unfortunate that a postal employee would consider stealing mail from anyone, let alone a charitable organization,” Scott Caspell, who heads up the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General in Chicago, said in a statement.
According to his plea agreement, Taylor sometimes paused on his route to open the envelopes in his postal vehicle and steal the contents. At other times, he left letters addressed to the charity in his mail satchel, later placed them in his personal car and then took them home.
Authorities said Taylor was caught after the charity alerted investigators to some suspicious activity.
On Aug. 11, 2011, Taylor was found in possession of at least 30 donation envelopes as well as several pieces of first-class mail containing a combined $100 cash, authorities said.
That same day, a search of his Chicago home uncovered the $275,000 in donations inside 29,400 donation envelopes, authorities said.
Over the years, federal authorities have charged numerous other Chicago-area postal employees for stealing mail, sometimes thousands of letters. The reasons can vary widely. Sometimes carriers have wanted to lighten their load or finish their route quicker. But usually there’s a financial motive. Dishonest carriers often look for greeting cards and other letters that might contain cash.
To capture employees who have come under suspicion, often after repeated complaints of missing mail by customers, postal investigators sometimes pass undercover letters made to appear to contain cash. The letters are equipped with special devices that alert investigators if the letter has been opened while in the possession of the postal employee.
But postal authorities stressed Thursday that employees like Taylor are an exception. Last year 383 postal employees across the country were arrested by the Inspector General’s office for theft, delay or destruction of mail offenses out of some 525,000 employees, they said.
“The majority of our employees are hard-working, dedicated individuals who would never dream of violating the trust placed in American’s postal system,” Scott Pierce, who is the deputy special agent in charge of Chicago’s U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, said in an e-mail.
