Official Misconduct

USPS OIG Investigations

The Official Misconduct program of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) oversees investigations of misconduct committed by postal employees that deteriorates the public’s trust and reflects negatively on the Postal Service. Official Misconduct investigations include the following:

• Misuse of postal computers..
• Destruction or theft of postal property.
• Falsifying official documents / forgery.
• Theft of funds.
• Abuse of authority.
• Sabotage of operations.
• Narcotics and alcohol abuse.
• General miscellaneous employee misconduct.

During the reporting period, April 1, 2007 through September 30, 2007, OIG special agents completed 1,871 Official Misconduct investigations, resulting in 115 arrests and 1,071 administrative actions.

Postal Employee Pled Guilty to Fraudulently Claiming Jury Service

A former postal Mail Processing Clerk, who fraudulently claimed he served jury duty beyond his actual service, may serve up to 20 months in prison for defrauding the U.S. Postal Service of approximately $34,000. An OIG investigation determined the former Mail Processing Clerk falsified court documents by adding months and days to his jury duty status to be paid for jury service he had not performed. The Mail Processing Clerk had worked for the Postal Service for 34 years and served jury duty in 2003, 2004, and 2006.

An OIG review of postal time keeping records revealed the former Mail Processing Clerk claimed he served on jury duty from April 2, 2006, to June 22, 2006. The Postal Service paid the Mail Processing Clerk about $6,313 in court leave for that period. The Mail Processing Clerk, in fact, served 14 days on jury duty during the month of April 2006, for which the court paid him $680.

The OIG review further revealed postal time keeping records for 2003 and 2004 show the Mail Processing Clerk was on court leave from September 30, 2003, through October 21, 2004. The Postal Service paid the Mail Processing Clerk about $27,843 for jury service for that period. The Mail Processing Clerk, in fact, served on jury duty from October 1, 2003, to April 15, 2004, a total of 91 days. The court paid him $4,250 for his service.

OIG special agents interviewed court staff regarding the jury duty documents the Mail Processing Clerk submitted to Postal Service management for his 2006 court leave. The court staff stated the documents were falsified and did not resemble the jury office’s documents. Specifically, the falsified documents were printed in a font different from that which is printed on the court’s official documentation, the telephone number for the jury office was not on the form, and missing also were the dollar amounts indicating how much the Mail Processing Clerk was paid for each day he served on jury duty. Nor did the form provide the correct days the Mail Processing Clerk served on jury duty. Court staff also stated the Mail Processing Clerk’s 2003 and 2004 jury duty documents were falsified.

On February 13, 2008, in the same courtroom where the Mail Processing Clerk fraudulently claimed to have performed jury service beyond his actual service, the 52-year-old Washington D.C. resident pled guilty to Mail Theft, Misappropriation of Postal Funds, and Criminal Forfeiture. As a part of his guilty plea, the former Mail Processing Clerk agreed to pay restitution of $38,923 to the Postal Service.