OIG OPERATING STATUS

DUE TO A LAPSE IN GOVERNMENT FUNDING, ALL NON-EXCEPTED OIG EMPLOYEES ARE FURLOUGHED AND MUST CEASE ALL OIG WORK-RELATED ACTIVITIES.

This website will not be monitored or updated until full operations resume.
Your interest in the efficiency of Postal Service programs is important to us. Our Hotline remains operational, and you may still submit your concern and it will be reviewed.

You may also submit FOIA requests, however we cannot respond until the government reopens.

Investigative News Releases

Working with our Law Enforcement Partners

Our special agents investigate nationwide internal crimes and fraud committed by postal employees and contractors as well as postal employee misconduct. We work with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and local prosecutors across the country to prosecute these crimes.

In some instances, we uncover much larger criminal activity being carried out by multiple individuals and organizations. In many of these cases, we partner with other federal and local law enforcement agencies to identify and hold responsible those who take advantage of the public’s trust in our postal system.

Below are links to the most recent news releases about our work.

Former Postal Employee Sentenced for Stealing Mail

Date Released: 10/07/2019

ERIE, Pa. - A resident of Allegany, New York has been sentenced in federal court to two years’ probation, ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, and complete 50 hours of community service on his conviction of theft of mail by postal employee, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today. United States District Judge David S. Cercone imposed the sentence on Bryant Richard, 30. According to information presented to the court, from in and around October 2018, to in and around November 2018, Richard...

Former Postal Employee Sentenced for Delay or Destruction of U.S. Mail

Date Released: 10/01/2019

Jackson, Miss. – Virginia Perkins, 49, of Lake, Mississippi, was sentenced yesterday by Senior U.S. District Judge David Bramlette III to two years’ probation for delay or destruction of U.S. mail by a postal employee, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Cave with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Southern Area Field Office. Perkins was employed as a rural carrier associate at the Canton, Mississippi, Post Office. On January 17, 2017...

Postal Employee Sentenced to Over Seven Years in Prison for Delivering Meth

Date Released: 09/11/2019

LITTLE ROCK—A letter carrier from West Memphis was sentenced Wednesday for his role in a methamphetamine conspiracy that federal authorities have charged as Operation "Money Don’t Sleep." Hayward Cleavon Shaw, 44, was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge James M. Moody. Cody Hiland, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced today’s sentencing. Shaw, while working as a postal employee, would assist drug distributors by helping them locate...

Doctor Agrees to Pay More Than $471,000 to Resolve Alleged Liability for Accepting Kickback Payments

Date Released: 09/05/2019

In a civil settlement agreement with the U.S. Government, an orthopedic surgeon has agreed to pay $471,221.46 to resolve allegations that he knowingly accepted illegal kickback payments in exchange for prescribing pain creams compounded and produced by OK Compounding, LLC, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. The government alleged that Dr. James L. Womack, 42, a physician in Clinton, Missouri, accepted the kickback payments from June 1, 2013 through June 9, 2015. Womack wrote prescriptions for...

Justice Department Obtains $1.4 Billion in Largest Opioid Drug Case Recovery in U.S. History

Date Released: 07/11/2019

Global consumer goods conglomerate Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (RB Group) has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to resolve its potential criminal and civil liability related to a federal investigation of the marketing of the opioid addiction treatment drug Suboxone. The resolution – the largest recovery by the United States in a case concerning an opioid drug – includes the forfeiture of proceeds totaling $647 million, civil settlements with the federal government and the states totaling $700 million...