MOBILE, Alabama Feb 21 2013 – An Iraq war veteran admitted today that he stole money from letters on his Midtown postal route.
The defendant, Orlando Doss, pleaded guilty to mail theft by a postal worker. Federal prosecutors in Mobile have agreed to recommend leniency as part of a plea bargain.
Federal prosecutors in Mobile have charged a number of area postal employees with theft of the mail in recent years, but the number of those cases has dropped in the past couple of years.
According to the plea document in the current case, postal inspectors opened an investigation after area resident Fayette Ransom, complained that her aunt in Midtown never received a birthday card with a $20 bill that she had mailed in June.
Investigators placed five test mailings in the system; one of them was a letter with $50 sent to an address on Rylands Street.
Investigators traced the letter to Doss, whom they saw rifling through mail in the parking lot of a church on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Law enforcement authorities later pulled him over and found $83 – including the marked $50 – in his wallet.
The vehicle also had four other pieces of mail that appeared to have been opened. The plea document states that Doss, 44, told investigators that that the other envelopes contained greeting cards that had no money.
Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. set a sentencing date of May 20.
Doss, a member of the U.S. Army Reserves who served one tour of duty in Iraq, told the judge that he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and has been treated for depression.
Source:AL.com
The defendant, Orlando Doss, pleaded guilty to mail theft by a postal worker. Federal prosecutors in Mobile have agreed to recommend leniency as part of a plea bargain.
Federal prosecutors in Mobile have charged a number of area postal employees with theft of the mail in recent years, but the number of those cases has dropped in the past couple of years.
According to the plea document in the current case, postal inspectors opened an investigation after area resident Fayette Ransom, complained that her aunt in Midtown never received a birthday card with a $20 bill that she had mailed in June.
Investigators placed five test mailings in the system; one of them was a letter with $50 sent to an address on Rylands Street.
Investigators traced the letter to Doss, whom they saw rifling through mail in the parking lot of a church on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Law enforcement authorities later pulled him over and found $83 – including the marked $50 – in his wallet.
The vehicle also had four other pieces of mail that appeared to have been opened. The plea document states that Doss, 44, told investigators that that the other envelopes contained greeting cards that had no money.
Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. set a sentencing date of May 20.
Doss, a member of the U.S. Army Reserves who served one tour of duty in Iraq, told the judge that he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and has been treated for depression.
Source:AL.com