NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

DECEMBER 14, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FORMER MAIL CARRIER INDICTED

FOR HOARDING MAIL

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a former rural letter carrier has been indicted by a federal grand jury for not delivering mail along his Strafford, Mo., area route.

Gregory Bennett Stewart, 37, of Branson, Mo. (formerly of Springfield, Mo.), was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007. Stewart was a rural carrier associate with the Strafford Post Office from Nov. 16, 2002, to Feb. 28, 2007.

The federal indictment alleges that Stewart kept approximately 80 pieces of first class mail and 531 pieces of standard mail between March 12, 2004, and Jan. 18, 2007.

Wood cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard E. Monroe. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

****************

This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at