The Men and Women behind the Eagle
FedSmith reporter Marilyn Loeser reports...
To most Americans, the Postal Service is a seamless operation: mail a letter and it gets to its destination as promised. But behind the service are 620,000 employees, each with their own stories to tell - on and off the job.
USPS Consumer Affairs Clerk Connie Dulworth uses lemon juice to read addresses that the eye cannot see (a trcik she learned from TV show CSI).
In Chapel Hill, NC, 83-year-old Rudy Tempesta — the oldest active letter carrier in the state — was recently inducted into the National Safety Council's Two Million Mile Club for driving 60 years without an at-fault accident.
April 9, 2009
(HOUSTON) - Former rural carrier associate Rodney Ervin has been sentenced to prison for mail theft, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, acting United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today.
U.S. District Court Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced Ervin to one month imprisonment on the mail theft count, one month for the access device count to run concurrently. He will also serve a two-year mandatory statutory maximum sentence for the aggravated identity theft count, to run consecutively for a total of a 25-month sentence. Indicted on July 17, 2008, Ervin pleaded guilty on Nov. 7, 2008, admitting he stole mail containing credit cards from customers residing along Rural Route 127, delivered out of the Bear Creek Station located on Cairnway Drive in Houston.
Special Agents of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG) initiated an investigation upon receiving a customer complaint advising use of a Chase MasterCard credit card stolen from the mail. Follow-up investigation revealed two additional Chase credit cards stolen from the mail. USPS-OIG agents determined Ervin had been assigned to the effected route when the reported mail losses had occurred. In addition, Ervin was captured and identified from video surveillance at various merchant locations using the credit cards and signing the legitimate customers’ names. The customers advised they did not authorize Ervin possession or use of their credit cards and Ervin was identified as being responsible for $2,517.52 in fraudulent charges.
Following the sentencing of another rural carrier associate in just less than two weeks, also resulting in the mandatory two-year-term, once again, the USPS reiterates: “Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States and is a serious federal offense,” said Max Eamiguel, Executive Special Agent-in-Charge, USPS-OIG, Southwest Field Office. “The American public trusts the Postal Service to deliver its mail intact. When a postal employee betrays that trust and steals mail, then uses stolen financial information to wreak havoc in the lives of our citizens, Special Agents of the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General investigate. Fortunately, these incidents are not common and the overwhelming majority of the 700,000 postal employees are honest and hard working. With the prosecutive support of the United States Attorney’s Office, we will aggressively pursue any employee committing a postal crime.”
Ervin began his employment with the United States Postal Service as a rural carrier associate on Aug. 28, 1999. His employment has since been terminated.
Ervin will be allowed to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on within 45 days. In addition to the 25 months sentence plus the mandatory two-year prison term, Judge Melinda Harmon also imposed a two-term of supervised release to begin following his release from prison and further ordered he pay restitution to the victims in the amount of $2,517.52.
The investigation leading to Ervin’s indictment and arrest was conducted by Special Agents with USPS-OIG. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Tammie Y. Moore.
Plea date moved for ex-mail carrier
The plea date for a former Howell mail carrier charged in federal court for failing to deliver mail between December 2005 and September 2008 has been reset to Jan. 20.
Jill Mary Hull is charged with "desertion of the mails." She was initially expected to enter a plea this Thursday.
The Webberville woman was initially charged with a felony
of stealing more than 9,400 pieces of mail, but those charges have been dropped by federal prosecutors.
Hull, who resigned in August, allegedly stored the undelivered mail at a storage unit at Fowlerville Mini Storage and told investigators she intended to keep paying rent on it "until the day I died."
However, the undelivered mail was discovered in early in September when employees began preparing to auction off the unit's contents because Hull had not paid the bill, court papers allege.
Source: Livingston Daily
New Jersey Postal Manager Jailed 33 Months for Bribery/Kickback Conspiracy
Source: USPS OIG
On September 4, 2008, a former Post Office Operations Manager (POOM) was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $25,700 in restitution to the Postal Service. This conviction and sentencing are the result of multiple OIG investigations into an 8-year conspiracy involving several New Jersey businesses, other postal employees, and the former POOM. The former Manager supervised the operations of more than 75 post offices in three New Jersey counties and influenced some managers he supervised to engage in fraudulent activities.
Our investigation determined the POOM steered postal contracts to the owner of an automobile repair shop and mobile car wash in exchange for money and gratuities. Additionally, he influenced at least 11 postal managers of associate offices to use exclusively the services of this business owner for postal vehicle repairs and car washes. In return, the POOM accepted from the business owner free car repairs for himself, relatives, and associates; $2,500 to pay for a relative’s wedding; and an agreement to allow another relative to become part-owner of the car wash portion of the business. The value of the services provided to the Postal Service is estimated at $600,000. However, our investigation determined the Postal Service paid $184,300 for excessive services and inflated billings. On September 9, 2008, the business owner was sentenced to 4 months’ home confinement and 3 years’ supervised release and ordered to repay $184,300 to the Postal Service.
The OIG further determined that between 1998 and 2002, the former POOM and a Postmaster received $100 to $400 in kickback funds per postal contract awarded to the owner of a refrigeration service company. On July 23, 2008, the owner of the refrigeration service company was sentenced to 5 months’ incarceration, 5 months’ home confinement, 2 years’ probation, and fined $3,000 in connection with the bribery/kickback scheme.
Our investigation revealed the former POOM directed an on-duty City Letter Carrier to perform extensive, unauthorized construction for building offices, plumbing, and electrical work. The work was performed at postal facilities and private homes, including the homes of two of the POOM’s ex-wives, with the POOM altering records so it would appear the Carrier was performing his normal postal duties, with inflated travel expenses.
The POOM also referred the Carrier to the subordinate Postmaster (mentioned earlier), who directed the on-duty Carrier to perform construction work at his ex-wife’s residence. Additionally, the Postmaster directed other postal employees to donate leave through the Annual Leave Sharing Program to his ex-wife, a Postmaster, and then caused the employees’ time records to be falsified, indicating they were working, when in fact, they were not. The subordinate Postmaster will be sentenced January 2009.
Our investigation uncovered numerous other schemes, in which the POOM defrauded the Postal Service, including: Submitting documents to the Postal Service containing false statements and/or omissions of material fact; conducting certain transactions in cash to eliminate an audit trail; and threatening and intimidating postal employees, who wished to report the fraudulent conduct to postal management.
I am posting following USPS information that can be found here:
http://pages.citebite.com/h9x2f4n2akof
I cannot tell you whether or not any of the statements are actual fact or just rumor - you will need to make that decision for yourself. Here's the information:
The following are some of the notes taken during a recent Area Manager’s Meeting as were submitted on a member’s-only-forum:
The Postal Service has borrowed to the maximum against the debt ceiling already for FY 09. We are in danger of not making payroll. PCES (Postal Career Executive Service) pay is frozen for FY 08. They will get no pay increase. No word about our pay being frozen. There will be a reduction of 4,000 EAS positions nationwide.
Staffing in the District Marketing offices must be cut by 10 – 15%. The plan has been finalized and submitted to NAPS and there will be an official announcement in 2-3 weeks. We are supposed to let the clerks know about the upcoming reductions.
7 out of 9 VPs of Area voted yes to keep Marketing. Marketing has been given a six (6) month reprieve.
Awaiting more details about cuts to clerks, Area level positions, employees at Headquarters, and carrier routes. It is going to be ugly.
There will be a reduction of 14,500 carrier routes nationwide. 59,000 positions are to be eliminated in FY 09.
Eliminating all Pool Clerks. Anybody with less than 5 years in the USPS will be gone next year.
The BMC may be totally outsourced. NPA is up in the air. BME added functions.
Article 7 will be invoked, which means that clerks can be converted to carriers.
All our functions may go to Finance and be incorporated into new positions, and we may have to bid on them.
Reductions at Headquarters – Down 15%
Reductions at District Level – Down 10 – 15%
Reductions at Area Level – Down 20%
Eliminate all T-2 positions in the plant that begin tour between 6:30 am and 12:30 pm. Only Maintenance personnel will work those hours.
They are studying the possibility of working the clerks four (4) ten-hours days instead of five (5) eight-hour days.
Eliminate 1st Pass DPS on Saturday night. 10 – 15 of the work is done on Sunday. They are looking at eliminating Sunday work.
All stamps will be distributed via Priority Mail to reduce the amount through the Registry. A spot inspection of the Denver Registry section found 3 clerks sleeping.
USPS is the majority user of Registered Mail.
Areas and Districts will be compressed.
We hear there is no MERLIN training being conducted in Norman for MPEs.
Mailing Standards Specialist will be responsible for negative balances, inactive accounts, late postage statements. Will also be responsible for BRM and Postage Due accounts. There is no early warning system for BRM or postage due. There will be an early warning for PI accounts. Sixty (60) days before they become inactive, we will be warned.
All travel will be curtailed to only critical travel.
All meetings must be shortened and be done on Meeting Place.
In FY 2009 Sox Compliance may become BMEs only job. Although there was some talk about BMEU Proficiency being added to the NPA of Finance.
- - END OF INFORMATION REPRINT - -
Again, I cannot tell you whether or not any of this is true. You may find this posted information here:
http://pages.citebite.com/h9x2f4n2akof
Rick Owens - PEN
The Eagles Den
I am the first member of the New York Letter Carrier group! I am a very active steward for the NALC. NY letter carriers are faced with more unique situations than letter carriers anywhere else in the country. I am in the Triboro district and we have no plans for FSS as of yet, but that doesnt mean we are not affected by its implementation.
Apparently all the other districts around us are getting ready to go online with FSS in 2009. Being that Triboro isnt getting it they are looking to excess clerks into the letter carrier craft here to make room for all the excessed clerks coming from all other districts. The Postal Service has even incresed the excessed miled to 500 from 50!!! That means you can be excessed to an office that is 500 miles away from your home as the crow flies!!!
We need to be active. We must protect our jobs and our routes. Be ever vigilant and be safe my brothers and sisters!
|
The
Eagles Den is owned and managed by Postal Employee Network and PostalWORKZ
LLC. |