Texas Letter Carrier Sentenced To 18 Months in Prison for workers comp fraud
Defendant Claimed Reimbursement for More than 500,000 Miles Driven to/from Doctor’s Appointments in Workers’ Compensation Claim
DALLAS — Keldrick Hamilton, 34, of Desoto, Texas, was sentenced yesterday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $230,000 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for stealing government funds related to Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (OWCP) claims he filed, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.
According to documents filed in the case, in September 2002, Hamilton, who worked as a U.S. Postal Service Letter Carrier at the Joe Pool Station in Dallas, filed for workers’ compensation after injuring a foot while delivering mail. The OWCP allows federal employees who sustain on-the-job injuries to receive medical payments and compensation benefits, including reimbursement for medically-related travel. His claim was accepted and he began visiting medical providers in late 2002.
Hamilton admitted, however, that from January 2007 through mid-November 2010, he defrauded the DOL OWCP by fraudulently claiming approximately $230,000 in mileage reimbursements, representing approximately 500,000 miles driven, for physician and rehabilitation appointments he did not attend. In fact, during that time frame, he did not visit any medical or rehabilitation facility, and thus did not incur any mileage costs.
The investigation was handled by the DOL-Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wiley and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Toussaint prosecuted.
source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas
California Postal Clerk Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For Embezzlment, Passing Counterfeit Bills
February 1 , 2012
OAKLAND, Calif. – Emmanuel Odion Esezobor was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $39,973.62 in restitution for stealing public money and passing counterfeit U.S. obligations, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced.
Esezobor, 51 of Hayward, Calif., was convicted by a jury on Oct. 27, 2011, after a three-day trial on one count of theft of public money, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641, and seven counts of passing counterfeit U.S. obligations, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 472. During the trial, evidence showed that, in February and March 2011, Esezobor issued himself $13,800 worth of U.S. postal money orders and purported to pay for those money orders with counterfeit $100 bills. The evidence further showed that Esezobor knew these bills were counterfeit and had passed similar counterfeit bills at his credit union in Hayward in November 2010.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken. At sentencing, Judge Wilken found that the defendant stole a total amount of $43,500 from the Alamo Post Office. As a result, she ordered restitution in the amount of $39,973.62, the remaining balance owed to the Alamo Post Office. Judge Wilken also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release. The defendant will begin serving his sentence on March 13, 2012.
Esezobor was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 14, 2011.
Brian Lewis and Joshua Hill are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Noble Hughes, Janice Pagsanjan, and Vanessa Vargas. The prosecution is the result of a year-long investigation by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Secret Service.
source: U.S. Attorney for Northern District of California
Former NC Postal Worker Sentenced To 7 Months in Prison For Workers Comp Fraud
Filed under: postal, postal news, press releases, usdoj, usps
United States Attorney’s office, Western District of North Carolina
January 20, 2012
ASHEVILLE, N.C. –A former employee of the United States Postal Service was sentenced yesterday to serve seven months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for filing fraudulent documents in order to receive worker’s compensation benefits and related charges, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Paul Bowman, Area Special Agent in Charge of the United States Postal Services, Office of the Inspector General (USPS-OIG). U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger also ordered Robin Knight Smith, 46, of Waynesville, N.C., to complete 100 hours of community service and to pay approximately $46,000 in restitution.
In January 2011, following a four-day trial a jury found Smith guilty of one count of aiding and abetting the submission of a false FMLA request, one count of making a false statement to the government, and four counts of submitting a false writing in connection with an application or receipt of worker’s compensation benefits. According to evidence presented at trial, Smith had allegedly suffered an on-the-job accident while working at a mail processing facility in Asheville. She then sought worker’s compensation and other employment benefits as a result of this incident and, through written documents and oral statements, she claimed that her injuries prevented her from returning to her regular job or an even less strenuous work assignment. Read more
Dayton, N.J. Mail Carrier arrested and charged in connection with fraudulent tax refund scheme
NEWARK, N.J. – A U.S. Postal Service worker was arrested today and charged in connection with his role in a scheme to provide, in exchange for payment, addresses to be used to file fraudulent tax returns and divert refund checks from his mail route, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Bennie H. Haynes, 52, of Dayton, N.J., was arrested this morning by agents the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General. Haynes was charged by Complaint with one count each of theft of government property, bribery and mail theft by a postal employee. He was scheduled to appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy Waldor in Newark federal court. Read more
Former Boston Postal Employee Sentenced for Mail Theft
January 17, 2012
BOSTON – A Boston man and former postal employee was sentenced in federal court for stealing mail from his postal route.
Andrae Wilson, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Young to four months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release. Wilson was also ordered to repay over $9,000 he spent using a stolen credit card. Wilson pleaded guilty to two counts of mail theft by a postal employee in October 2011.
Had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that the defendant was employed as a Part-Time-Flexible Letter Carrier in Roxbury beginning in November 2004. In January 2007, a Roxbury resident complained that a credit card had been stolen from her mail and used to purchase thousands of dollars of goods and services. All the purchases were made during the month of December 2006. After reviewing surveillance video from one of the stores where the stolen credit card was used, it was determined that Wilson was the one using the resident’s credit card. A review of delivery records indicated that Wilson was the mail carrier assigned to the route that included the resident’s address.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Rafael Medina, Acting Special Agent in Charge, United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey M. Cohen of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit.
Postal employee sentenced to prison for workers comp fraud
Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, today announced that on Wednesday, January 18,2012, Karen A. Anderson-Bagshaw, 49, of Geneva, Ohio, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge James S. Gwin to twelve months and one day imprisonment followed by two years supervised re lease, and ordered to pay $71,887.50 in restitution to the Department of Labor. On October 19, 20 11, after a week long trial, a federal jury returned verdicts findi ng Anderson-Bagshaw guilty of one count of mail fraud and 13
counts of worker’s compensation fraud. The charges arose out of Anderson-Bagshaw’s employment as a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service and worker’s compensation payments she received between June, 2002 and June, 2011. Read more
Postal Worker Gets Probation for stealing Vets prescriptions from mail
BOISE – Guy K. Dunne, 45, of Meridian, Idaho, was sentenced today to two years of probation for theft of mail matter by a postal employee, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge fined Dunne $3,000 and ordered him to pay $255.11 in restitution, and costs of drug testing and treatment. Dunne pleaded guilty on October 12, 2011, to count one of an information filed on September 27, 2011.
According to the plea agreement, Dunne was employed as a city carrier by the U.S. Postal Service from December 1997 to April 2011. Between January 21 and February 12, 2010, the Caldwell Post Office in Caldwell, Idaho, determined that several U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) medication packages were missing from the post office. In April 2010, video surveillance conducted by special agents of the Postal Service Office of Inspector General observed Dunne removing a VA medication package from a delivery cart and placing it under mail he was already carrying. Dunne was subsequently interviewed and admitted to the theft. According to the plea agreement, Dunne stole the medications to sustain his addiction to hydrocodone. Dunne admitted that over the prior year he had stolen an estimated 20 to 40 VA medication packages. The Postal Service identified missing packages intended for 29 recipients; Dunne has agreed to pay restitution for those packages.
The case was investigated by the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General.
California Postal Worker Sentenced To Prison For Workers’ Compensation Fraud
Filed under: owcp, postal, postal news, press releases, usdoj
January 9,2012
FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today Chief United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii sentenced Karina S. Beard, 44, of Turlock, to one year in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for four counts of mail fraud and two counts of federal workers’ compensation fraud. Beard was also ordered to pay $81,694 in restitution. Read more
Pennsylvania Postmaster Relief Found Guilty Of Misappropriating $2,600 In USPS Funds
PITTSBURGH, Pa – After a non-jury trial tried before Senior United States District Judge Maurice B. Cohill, Terri Oddo was found guilty of one count of misappropriation of postal funds, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
Oddo, 43, of East Brady, Pennsylvania, was tried in Pittsburgh.
According to Assistant United States Attorney Paul E. Hull, who prosecuted the case, the evidence presented at trial established that Oddo was a postal employee at the East Brady, Pa., Post Office who embezzled $2,650.77 in postal service funds.
Judge Cohill scheduled sentencing for April 10, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. The law provides for a total sentence of one year in prison, a fine of $100,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based on the seriousness of the offense and the criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Pending sentencing, Oddo remains free on bond.
The United States Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Terri Oddo.
source: USDOJ: US Attorney’s Office – Western District of Pennsylvania.
Two Alabama Postal Employees Indicted for Stealing, Delaying and Destroying Mail
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted two U.S. Postal employees for several mail-related violations, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Kenny Smith, assistant special agent in charge, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service.
The grand jury charged the two Postal Service employees in separate indictments with delaying mail delivery and mail theft by postal employees:
SUSAN KIRKLAND JACKSON, 50, of Glencoe, who worked as a mail carrier at the East Gadsden Post Office, was charged in a three-count indictment with delaying and destroying mail between Dec. 19, 2010, and Feb. 9, 2011.
SUE ANN MORIARTY, 31, of Harvest, who worked as a part-time mail carrier at the Huntsville Downtown Post Office, was charged in a four-count indictment with delaying and destroying mail between Dec. 14, 2010, to March 2, 2011.
The crimes of Theft of Mail Matter by a Postal Employee and Delay and Destruction of Mail are punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
“Businesses and citizens alike trust and rely on the efficient operation of the U.S. mail,” Vance said. “Postal employees and others who abuse this system do the country a great disservice. Anyone who steals from or disrupts delivery of U.S. mail in northern Alabama should expect to be prosecuted.”
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General investigated the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank M. Salter is prosecuting the cases.
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
source: USDOJ: US Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama.