NEW: Postal Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing Cash from Greeting Cards
Thursday, March 22, 2012
A United States Postal Service employee pled guilty in federal court in Providence today to stealing cash from greeting cards sent through the mail, announced U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Jane Hughes, Special Agent in Charge of the northeast area United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG).
Robert J. Hart, Jr., 49, of Cranston, R.I., pled guilty to stealing and removing articles contained within letters and mail by a Postal Service employee. He faces up to5 years in federal prison followed by up to 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith on July 13, 2012.
According to information presented to the court, an investigator from the USPS OIG recovered 106 pieces of rifled mail that had been processed at the Providence Processing and Distribution Center on September 24 and 25, 2011. All of the rifled mail was first class greeting cards mailed from outside of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The mail had been slit open along the top seam and cash allegedly removed from cards which had the hinge of the greeting card face down.
According to court documents and information presented to the court, on October 11, 2011, agents from the USPS OIG recovered 97 rifled first class greeting cards processed between October 1 and October 10, 2011. None of the recovered mail which had the hinge facing down contained cash.
According to information presented to the court, on October 12, 2011, USPS OIG agents placed two pieces of mail which contained greeting cards with marked $20 bills in processing trays to be handled by Hart, and conducted surveillance of Hart’s actions. As agents watched, Hart removed a cutting instrument from his pocket as he processed the mail. The greeting cards placed by agents for processing by Hart were slit open and the marked $20 bills removed. Agents confronted Hart and the marked $20 bills were located in his pocket.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Rogers.
