15-year Sentence Sends Strong Message to Postal Employees: Do Not Traffic Drugs

Our Data Analytics team develops cutting-edge tools our Office of Investigations uses to proactively identify postal crime. Leveraging data analytics and more recently AI, these tools help special agents pinpoint when and where crimes are happening in the postal system.

This investigation is a prime example.

In May 2022, our special agents found suspected drugs en route to trafficking organizations in Yonkers, New York.

Further analysis revealed a substantial number of shipped parcels believed to contain narcotics, so investigators paired up with their counterparts at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Our special agents quickly narrowed down the list of suspects to a mail carrier.

On several occasions, they found the carrier mimicked the delivery of suspected narcotics parcels and falsely marked them as “delivered” in USPS’s system — only he didn’t and instead took them home. Investigators also intercepted a package via a search warrant, finding it had 2 kg. of cocaine.

During a sting operation, investigators caught the mail carrier in the act and arrested him. He was found with three parcels containing a total of 6 kg. of cocaine.

After consenting to a search of his home, they found further incriminating evidence in a safe, including $12,000 in cash, a handgun, and about 300 g. of fentanyl.

Considering it only takes a 2 mg. dose of fentanyl (similar to 5-7 grains of salt) to cause overdose or death for an average size adult, his stash of fentanyl could have led to 150,000 fatalities.

Items found in suspect's safe during search. Source: USPS OIG.

Items found in suspect's safe during search. Source: USPS OIG.

Handgun and loaded magazine found in safe. Source: USPS OIG.

Handgun and loaded magazine found in safe. Source: USPS OIG.

Suspected fentanyl found in safe. Source: USPS OIG.

Suspected fentanyl found in safe. Source: USPS OIG.

Suspected fentanyl tests positive. Source: USPS OIG.

Suspected fentanyl tests positive. Source: USPS OIG.

Drug parcels seized during investigation. Source: USPS OIG.

Drug parcels seized during investigation. Source: USPS OIG.

Contents of package test positive for cocaine. Source: USPS OIG.

Contents of package test positive for cocaine. Source: USPS OIG.

When investigators questioned the mail carrier, his admissions started small and soon fell apart as more questions were asked.

Initially, he claimed he received packages twice a month but later admitted to receiving packages five or six times a week. In fact, he’d been moving drugs for about a year.

He also confessed to ordering marijuana for himself using the same shipping scheme. What did he get in return for moving the drugs?

Some cash, losing his career with the Postal Service, and a grave consequence that was about to unfold.

He went to trial and, after three days, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all three counts of the indictment. The court sentenced him to 15 years in federal prison and $65,000 in forfeiture.

May these consequences serve as a warning to postal employees who would consider moving drugs through the U.S. Mail: if you value your career and your freedom, don’t do it.

"The American public places its trust in Postal Service employees to uphold the integrity of the U.S. Mail. The trafficking of life-threatening narcotics through the postal system gravely undermines that trust. The USPS OIG is unwavering in its commitment to prevent such abuses and to hold any complicit employees fully accountable."

– Tammy Hull
Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service Office

If you suspect or know of narcotics trafficking involving Postal Service employees or contractors, please report it to our Hotline.