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
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.
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.
Two Kentucky Mail Carriers Admit Stealing Prescriptions Mailed To Veterans
Filed under: postal, postal news, press releases, usps, veterans
FRANKFORT — The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General jointly announced today that two U.S. mail carriers have admitted to stealing mail packages containing prescription pills.
Pamela J. Hawkins, 40, pleaded guilty today to theft of mail matter and in a separate case, James Carter, 40, pleaded guilty to the same charge yesterday.
Hawkins admitted that she took 10 to 11 drug parcels, over the past year and a half, that were intended for veterans living in Lawrenceburg, Ky. The parcels contained hydrocodone pills.
Carter admitted that while working for the Lexington Processing and Distribution Center, he stole up to 60 drug shipments, consisting primarily of hydrocodone, that were intended for veterans living in Lexington, Georgetown, Louisville, Morehead, Nicholasville, Danville, London, Corbin, Pikeville, and Manchester among other cities in Kentucky.
According to Carter’s plea agreement, on February 11, 2009, investigators conducted surveillance on Carter while he was working and approached him as he was about to leave work for the day. They found drugs in his pockets, sock and vehicle.
The investigation into both cases started after the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General received complaints from individuals who weren’t receiving the drug parcels mailed to them by the Department of Veterans Affairs. There is no evidence in either case that the defendants were distributing the pills.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney David A. Marye represented the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this case.
Hawkins will appear for sentencing in Frankfort on March 13 and Carter will appear in Lexington for his sentencing on March 1. If convicted, both defendants face a maximum prison sentence of five years. However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of sentences.
source: The United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Kentucky
Postal Supervisor Pleads Guilty To Taking Bribes
Denny Robinson, the Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor at the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) Vehicle Maintenance Facility (“VMF”) in Detroit pleaded guilty today to taking bribes in exchange for directing repair and maintenance work to a private contractor United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Joanne Yarbrough, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Major Fraud Investigations Division. Read more
California Postmaster Arrested for stealing more than $23,000 from Rural Post Office
SACRAMENTO, CA (AP) – Federal prosecutors say they have arrested a postmaster for stealing more than $23,000 from a rural post office in Northern California.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento said 38-year-old Kristina Michelle Morris was arrested Thursday for felony embezzlement, theft of cash and theft of money orders. She was released on $10,000 bail and has not entered a plea.
Morris is suspected of stealing from the post office in Bieber, a Lassen County town about 100 miles east of Redding. Prosecutors say the thefts occurred between October 2010 and May.
She faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years and a $750,000 fine. Her public defender, Dennis Waks of Sacramento, says it’s too early in the legal proceedings to make a statement.
California Postal Worker Convicted Of Paying For Money Orders With Counterfeit Bills
OAKLAND, Calif. – Emmanuel Odion Esezobor was convicted by a federal jury yesterday of one count of theft of public money and seven counts of passing counterfeit U.S. obligations, United States Attorney Melinda Haag, Special Agent in Charge Nichole Cooper of the Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Pacific Area Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Andrew Adelmann of the U.S. Secret Service San Francisco Field Office announced.
The jury found that Esezobor stole $13,800 from the U.S. Postal Service and passed counterfeit bills at the Alamo Post Office on seven different days in February and March 2011. The guilty verdict followed a 3-day jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken.
Evidence at trial showed that Esezobor, 51 of Hayward, Calif., issued himself $13,800 worth of U.S. postal money orders and purported to pay for those money orders with counterfeit $100 bills. Esezobor knew these bills were counterfeit and had passed similar counterfeit bills at his credit union in Hayward in November 2010.
“Today’s verdict sends a clear message that theft by a postal employee is a very serious crime and will not be tolerated,” Special Agent in Charge Cooper of the Postal Service Office of Inspector General said. “The overwhelming majority of Postal Service employees are honest, trustworthy individuals. But when a postal employee, such as Mr. Esezobor, betrays that trust, Postal Service Office of Inspector General Special Agents vigorously investigate those matters. This conviction reflects the continuing commitment of both the OIG and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring to account those who violate the law.”
Special Agent in Charge Adelmann of the Secret Service added, “This verdict reinforces the effectiveness law enforcement partnerships and collaboration on joint investigations has on addressing serious violations of federal law.”
Esezobor was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 14, 2011.
The sentencing of Esezobor is scheduled for Jan. 31, 2011, before U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland. The maximum statutory penalty for theft of public money, in violation 18 U.S.C. § 641, is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of passing counterfeit U.S. obligations, in violation 18 U.S.C. § 472, is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Brian Lewis and Joshua Hill are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting 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: Press Release – United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California.