Fraud persists within U.S. Postal Service
New inspector general report reveals letter carriers who stole mail and collected false payments.
As the U.S. Postal Service continues its financial downward spiral, its inspector general issued a report this week revealing dozens of letter carriers who have violated agency policy or the law.
The report, as spotlighted by The Washington Post, reveals postal workers who have stolen and burned mail and collected thousands of dollars from false workers' compensation claims, among other misdeeds. One letter carrier in Texas earned more than $200,000 in false medical travel vouchers; another in Kentucky was found to be hoarding more than 3,000 pieces of stolen mail in her letter carrier's vehicle.
The inspector general conducted 2,129 investigations between April 1 and Sept. 30, resulting in 333 arrests and nearly $21 million in fines, restitutions and recoveries, $11 million of which was returned to USPS.