U.S. v. Mr. S (DMC No. 15036) – Federal Felony Misappropriation of Postal Funds ($301) – Reduced to Probation with Zero Days in Jail – U.S. District Court, District of Arizona. (Case No. 4:17-CR-01474-TUC-LCK).
Mr. S. was a U.S. Postal carrier who had his route in a suburb of Tucson. Part of his duties included the delivery of U.S. Mail with Cash on Delivery (“COD”) service requested. Per the USPS Domestic Mail manual, the COD recipient pays postage and the cost of the mailed article upon delivery, the delivery employee collects payment for the COD from recipient, remits it to the Postal Service and the Postal Service delivers the payment to the sender. Mr. S. had delivered a COD package to a customer who had remitted $301 to Mr. S. Mr. S. did not turn the COD payment over to the USPS in order to remit to the sender. When he was questioned by the USPS Office of Inspector General, Special Agents, he acknowledged he experienced a lack of personal funds while retaining the $301 COD payment, and thus used a portion of the COD money for personal expenses. He was then charged with Felony Misappropriation of Postal Funds per 18 USC 1711.
Mr. S. then retained our services and we contact the Assistant U.S. Attorney in order to resolve the case. We explained that Mr. S. had put the money in his wallet and was planning on remitting the money to the Postal Service within the next couple of days. He was merely short on cash before his paycheck, and he used some of the COD money to pay his expenses. While acknowledging the wrongfulness of his actions, he did plan on only keeping the money for a couple of days. The Assistant U.S. Attorney then offered us a plea which included a reduction to Probation and Zero Days in Jail.