Worker escapes jail after "routinely" committing federal crime
By Kate Northrop
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A New York U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employee avoided a prison sentence after being convicted of stealing cash, lottery tickets, and other personal belongings from the mail she was entrusted to deliver.
Marlene Cruz, 40, of Rochester, pleaded guilty to theft of mail matter by officer or employee after an investigation found that she stole money, lottery tickets, and sensitive documents from over two years' worth of mail.
In January 2022, USPS received complaints from individuals in Rochester stating that their mail had been tampered with in late 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York said. Cruz, a full-time mail carrier, was the employee working the mail route associated with the complaints.
USPS' next move was to install surveillance cameras inside the mail trucks, which recorded her from January 2022 to November 2023, according to court documents.
In an investigation led by the USPS Office of Inspector General, officials determined that Cruz "routinely opened envelopes and parcels," taking lottery tickets, documents, cash, ticket stubs, and gift cards on 38 separate occasions and rifled through nearly 90 pieces of mail she was supposed to deliver.
Prosecutors said she would take the envelopes she opened and either rip them up, toss them out of the vehicle, or reseal and deliver them.
In footage dated Feb. 28, 2022, she was caught on camera pocketing cash from two envelopes, which she proceeded to tear up. That same day, she opened two more envelopes, kept a lottery ticket found inside, and resealed both pieces of mail, an affidavit states.
In May and November 2023, investigators conducted mail integrity tests, which involved placing dummy greeting cards containing cash and gift cards in the mail Cruz was supposed to deliver. Officials executed a warrant for her person and personal belongings.
At the end of her shift on Nov. 3, 2023, she was detained and searched by investigators, who found a gift card from one of the mail integrity tests inside her personal bag.
Although the charge of theft of mail matter by officer or employee carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Cruz avoided jail time. On May 10, U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa sentenced her to two years' probation.
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A Federal crime and a slap on the wrist. I would think (hope) that she got fired.
Post office has been terrible lately. Mailed a card over two weeks ago to Georgia. Still note there. She received Christmas cards from others and they didn't get there until mid-January. My sister mailed some Christmas cards and were never delivered this past year.
New York. What did you expect?
She should have gone to prison.
This happened to me last summer, they caught him with a bunch of mail in his personal car, Mine was a check to my insurance company, I had to cancel my checking and go through and figure out who got paid and who didn't. They didn't get any money, but had my name, address, and bank account.
Slap on the wrist is right, only makes more criminals less afraid of getting caught.
New York. What did you expect?
She should have gone to prison.BBQED
thar fixed it 4 you hehehe
And she was not ordered to pay any restitution.
Realizing this is a Federal crime is one thing...just think, though it would never happen, if somehow state crimes could be introduced. The Southern Court of NY doesn't play...the ones going after tRump. Don't know about NY laws.
The NY Court is going after President Trump for an alleged crime that the Feds declined to pursue. Elevating a business records misdemeanor to a federal crime for an alleged undisclosed underlying crime is not going to hold up on appeal. All businesses choose to settle some internal matters and threatened litigation and it is noted as legal expenses accounting wise.
So yes, NY does play...but foolishly.
Dam, you're supposed to act like you're delivering shyt, put the wrong mail in the wrong boxes and stash what you're going to keep...... stop being selective and hope you got something worth your while.
USPS got rid of a lot of the testing requirements for new hires. I believe now the only test applicants have to take is a "personality" test, which really only tests a person's ability to lie well enough to game the system.
In Arizona, a woman named Melody Feliciano Johnson was recently sentenced to probation after being videotaped poisoning her husband's coffee. She had been putting trace amounts of bleach in his coffee every day for months. Given the fact that she was trying to murder her husband, that too was a slap on the wrist.
Not only New York, but everywhere.
Cut her some slack seeing as how she suffers from blurry face. Thought it was a Federal crime to tamper with the mail. Always amazed at people who risk a good paying job to commit small crimes, maybe they're not so good at math.
BobP
Is it still cultural appropriation if there's no culture?
Justice system is an absolute joke.
Do people still mail cash these days?
OMG, Bleach really?
Guess she was thinking she would't have to clean up afterwards,LOL
When did he decide to start videotaping?
!!Makes one wonder about the judge, hummmmm!!
I guess she was hoping to get away clean
or was looking 4 a clean getaway...
I can't help but laugh at some people,what was she thinking?
Been a couple of years ago from Grand Jury duty. The DA told us the reason they seek maximum here in Shelby County, KY was for two reasons. 1) 'they' will always seek a plea deal. 2) If you do not seek the maximum, you are not allowed to go into court and up the ante, only what's presented in the courtroom.
She said we could take notes, and go to the office down the road if we want to check the status of cases. One case became Federal and wish I could remember the perps name. We had one RICO case as well. She or the Assistant DA said in the former case the Feds would reluctantly take cases, or just not bother, but his definitely warranted Feds.
Have had 2 recent encounters from the post office in the last 5 months.
Sent a gift card to a friend in another state this past Christmas. He got the envelope 10 days after Christmas.The gift card was missing from inside but the empty card holder was still there.
Ordered an item from a private on line sale. Had purchased multiple items from this person before without a hitch. Item Never delivered.
total in losses...$130
That's BS ..federal crime she should be serving jail time the judge is just wrong. First the woman was a trusted federal employee and the judge is supposed to protect us the people who put faith in government programs ...the judge is just has bad a person has the thief
He became suspicious in March after noticing that his coffee didn't taste right. It was soon after that when he decided to videotape.
I've had mail go missing as well, along with my wife not getting packages.
We had a situation in my area in which keys to mail dropboxes were stolen and mail was being stolen. The Post Office said to only drop mail inside the post office and all the blue boxes were removed.
Sad we can't trust our Post Office anymore.
nothing unites humanity more than swapping stories about how usps sucks balls.
fire her on the spot let her clean the bathrooms in prison
Well then, I guess crime DOES pay.
Some Botox and Revlon might just fix her right up.