Press Release from the United States Attorney’s office Eastern District of California

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that NANCY R. SCIOLINO, 52, of Lodi, pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement this morning before United States District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr.

The case was investigated by the United States Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rodriguez, who is prosecuting the case, from December 2007 through September 2008, SCIOLINO stole the cash reserve of the Farmington Post Office, located at 25320 East Highway 4. The cash reserve was entrusted to SCIOLINO in order for her to make authorized post office expenses and for her to provide change to counter postal clerks she supervised. SCIOLINO incrementally stole the cash reserve and then falsified documents to cover her theft and embezzlement. This morning SCIOLINO admitted that she used over $1,000 in U.S. currency in the cash reserve to make personal expenditures and to pay nongovernmental expenses. SCIOLINO had been employed by the U.S. Post Office since February 1985 and, at the time of her theft, SCIOLINO was the acting Post Master of the Farmington Post Office.

SCIOLINO was convicted of felony embezzlement of postal funds during the performance of her duties. SCIOLINO is scheduled to be sentenced for her theft offense on April 26, 2010. The maximum penalty SCIOLINO faces is 10 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.