BOSTON – A Lowell postal worker pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to attempting to bribe a postal supervisor and sell them cocaine.

John Noviello, of Nashua, N.H., 61, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a public official and one count of distribution of cocaine. U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for Feb. 14, 2023. Noviello was charged on May 11, 2022.

Noviello was a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Lowell. On Feb. 15, 2022, Noviello approached a U.S. Postal supervisor seeking their assistance in a scheme to divert postal packages suspected of containing cocaine. Noviello offered to pay the supervisor $1,750 per kilogram of cocaine successfully obtained from any diverted packages. 

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Office; and Ketty Larco Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Mulcahy of Rollins’ Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.