United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

MAIL CARRIER SENTENCED TO 24 MONTHS

FORT WORTH, Tx. — James W. Gross, Jr., a former mail carrier from Fort Worth, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means to 24 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper, of the Northern District of Texas. Gross pled guilty in May 2007 to an indictment which charged one count of theft of mail matter by an officer or employee of the U.S. Postal Service. Judge Means ordered that Gross, 42, surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on October 15, 2007.

In documents filed in Court, Gross admitted that on November 29, 2002, while he was employed as a mail carrier, one of the pieces of mail he was to deliver was an envelope containing a U.S. Treasury check addressed to a location in Mineral Wells, Texas. Rather than deliver the envelope, however, he kept it, and never did deliver it. In fact, it was found in his possession a number of years later.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Buie.

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