United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

FORMER POSTAL EMPLOYEE SENTENCED TO 15 MONTHS
IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR MISAPPROPRIATING POSTAL FUNDS

Defendant Also Ordered to Pay More Than $100,000 in Restitution

FORT WORTH, Texas — Marion A. Lester, a former U.S. Postal Service employee who worked at the Jack D. Watson Post Office in Fort Worth, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for embezzling funds from the U.S. Postal Service, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. At Friday’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge John McBryde also ordered Lester, 49, of Bridgeport, Texas, to pay $108,262.26 in restitution to the U.S. Postal Service. He must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by December 28, 2007.

"The Office of Inspector General considers theft of Postal Service funds to be a serious crime. Most postal employees who handle postal funds are honest and trustworthy and wouldn't consider taking a penny. But when even one employee betrays that trust and steals Postal Service money, our Special Agents vigorously investigate those thefts. The sentence handed down and the restitution ordered reinforces the extensive investigative effort put into the case by Special Agents and the Assistant U.S. Attorney," said Max Eamiguel, Area Special Agent in Charge of the Postal Service's Office of Inspector General.

Lester worked as a Sales and Service Associate (window clerk) and was responsible for selling stamps and money orders to customers. He was also the primary clerk responsible for issuing refunds, assisting major mailers and performing stamp audits. Lester pled guilty in August to an Information charging misappropriation of postal funds

In November 2003, a review of postal accounting records disclosed several questionable entries recorded at the Jack D. Watson Post Office, and U.S. Postal Inspectors began investigating Lester for possible theft of Postal funds. On several occasions, he was observed pocketing cash from his sales drawer. Further investigation revealed that Lester would alter a customer refund request, which had previously been used to refund money to a customer, to reflect a larger refund. Lester would then make false entries in the Postal records to cover his theft and remove cash from the sales drawer to reflect the fraudulent refund amount.

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 Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Nichols.

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