Postal workers behaving badly

You ever had one of those days when you want to throw your work in the trash? At least two postal letter carriers did it -- and got caught.

Most of the nation's almost 195,000 letter carriers this year swiftly completed their appointed rounds, but a few bad actors discarded mail or stole thousands of dollars of tax refunds and medication.

A Georgia letter carrier left the U.S. Postal Service in March after admitting he dumped more than 600 pieces of mail into a Dumpster, including Netflix DVDs and first-class mail. He told investigators that he threw out the mail because he wanted to be done for the day. The man is serving 12 months of probation, paid a $500 fine and $182 in restitution to Netflix.

A letter carrier in Alabama was caught on tape dumping more than 250 pieces of mail into a gas station Dumpster. She resigned from the Postal Service in August after pleading guilty to one count of delay of mail.

The bad behavior is detailed in the Postal Service Inspector General's semiannual report to Congress, which covers the period from March to September this year. The watchdog team conducted more than 1,990 investigations that prompted 453 arrests -- very few of which involved postal employees -- and more than $672 million in fines and restitution.

Some postal workers also stole from the mail before it leaves the post office, according to the report. A California postal worker quit in June after investigators caught her rifling through parcels in the back of a parked truck and stuffing pill bottles in her pant pockets and shirt.

Under questioning, she admitted to stealing from hundreds of parcels over four years to support an addiction to Vicodin. The worker resigned, was ordered to pay more than $9,300 in restitution and sentenced to 10 months in jail and six months of probation.

Closer to home, a District letter carrier and two co-conspirators pleaded guilty in July to stealing more than $100,000 in Treasury checks, D.C. government checks and identity theft. A joint sting operation in February between the Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service and the D.C. Office of Inspector General caught the postal worker mishandling checks belonging to other routes.

Over two years, the letter carrier admitted receiving about $500 for each check passed to her co-conspirators, who would then cash them using fake driver's licenses. She resigned from the Postal Service in July and was sentenced to 25 months in jail and ordered to pay more than $130,000 in restitution.

The Postal Service employs about 580,400 career workers and the actions of those described in the report represent a fraction of one percent of all USPS workers, spokesman Mark Saunders said.

"We are a microcosm of society," he said, adding later that "One offense is one too many and employees who commit illegal acts are dealt with accordingly."