Identity Theft Goes Postal Over the Holidays
Peter Lim was ticked off at his supervisors. Fortunately for them, he decided filching gift cards sent in the mail he was supposed to be processing was sufficient revenge, rather than opening up with an AK 47.
Unfortunately for Lim, another employee had been under suspicion and postal inspectors had put the gift card envelopes in the mail as bait. They were surprised when the 17 year postal employee took the bait.
There is a zero tolerance policy for theft by postal employees due to the trust the public must be able to have in them. This means that a theft of $135 ($55 in cash, a $10 Wal-Mart gift card, a $20 Target gift card and a $50 Lowe’s gift card) turned into a federal offense.
Positions of Trust Carry Higher Penalty for Betrayal
“There’s absolutely zero tolerance by the government,” said John Floyd, Lim’s lawyer. “If it wasn’t for the abuse of trust issue, these cases would just be misdemeanors.” Floyd also stated that he has defended five postal worker clients accused of theft or destroying mail. “They are often very small amounts that would be lesser charges in any other circumstance. But instead, Mr. Lim has to start all over in life. The government policy seems to be to provide a lesson for all other postal carriers.”
“Most employees at the postal service are hardworking and trustworthy. This isn’t systemic,” said Agapi Doulaveris, spokeswoman for the postal branch of the Office of Inspector General in Virginia. “We have zero tolerance on employee theft cases because we want to ensure that the American public has faith in the postal system.”
Problem Not Widespread
There were only 333 criminal cases filed nationwide against postal employees or contractors for mail theft, delay or destruction in the last fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s latest semiannual report.
Destruction often consisted of the third class mail – flyers, circulars and other ‘junk’ pieces. A North Carolina letter carrier was sentenced to probation for stashing and burying tons of undelivered third-class mail in his backyard.
ID Thieves in Prime Position to Take Advantage
The worst case scenarios, however, deal with identity theft. Postal carrier LaNardsha Rose is charged with stealing checks from customers and using their identities.
Winston Cochran, Rose’s lawyer, admitted she will likely get prison time. “It’s worse than zero tolerance when aggravated identity theft is added on,” Cochran said.
The law demands two years’ detention in cases of aggravated identity theft. Rose is accused of identity theft by using three other women’s identities to steal using checks and a credit card in their names.
With the economy weak and Christmas approaching, keeping an eye out for possible theft of your identity should be a matter of course. Make sure you check your mail, and see if it shows signs of tampering. When even postal employees prove untrustworthy, identity theft is more likely than ever!
December 8th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
During the holidays and with the financial pressure i would be not surprised if identity theft becomes a much greater threat then what it already is. People tend to think tha tit will never happen to them but little do they know that it is very possible and they should take measures to prevent it.
Best.
http://www.allaboutidentity.com