A now former United States Postal Service (USPS) employee has been sentenced after being found guilty of stealing mail in Rochester, New York.
On Friday, U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced that Marlene Cruz, 40, who was convicted of mail theft by an officer or employee, will serve two years of probation, according to reports. Stated. press release From the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
“This charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine,” authorities said.
image show The suspect appears to be handling some type of cash while sitting in the mail truck.
Marlene Cruz, 40, pleaded guilty to theft of mail by an officer or employee. She stole cash, gift cards, lottery tickets, etc. from the mail.
She read nearly 90 pieces of mail 38 times.
Somehow she doesn’t go to jail?https://t.co/V7KBKdKUKL
— Orietta Rose 🇺🇲 (@0riettaRose) May 13, 2024
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle P. Rossi said people contacted USPS in January 2022 to report that someone had tampered with their mail during the final months of 2021.
The press release continued:
A subsequent investigation determined that Mr. Cruz, a full-time mail carrier, was responsible for the mail route involved in the complaint. Further investigation revealed that Cruz regularly opened envelopes and packages dozens of times between January 2022 and November 2023, removing items such as ticket stubs, documents, cash, lottery tickets, and gift cards. It turned out that he had taken it out.
Investigators conducted mail integrity tests in May and November 2023, including greeting cards containing cash and gift cards in the mail Mr. Cruz delivered. On November 2, 2023, at the end of her shift, agents detained Ms. Cruz and executed a warrant on her person and her personal property. During the search, she recovered a gift card from one of the Postal Integrity Test greeting cards that was inside Mr. Cruz’s personal duffel bag.
NEW: Rochester USPS carrier pleads guilty to mail theft. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Marlene Cruz “regularly opened envelopes and packages and removed items, including ticket stubs, documents, cash, lottery tickets, and gift cards, on dozens of occasions.”
by… pic.twitter.com/pD5qWHVh5W
— Jackie Napier (@TheJackieNapier) January 19, 2024
A USPS employee in Ohio admitted to embezzling large sums of money from mail packages containing fentanyl and methamphetamine, Breitbart News reported in November 2022.
“The Ohio worker’s guilty plea comes as the state and nation grapple with the deadly opioid drug crisis,” the article said.
According to Breitbart News, in October 2022, three USPS employees and one additional person were allegedly involved in a fraud and identity theft scheme totaling more than $1 million, including stealing credit cards found in mail. was arrested.
“They would then activate those cards using the personal identification information they had already stolen,” the report states.
