Postal Service Contract Carrier Sentenced For Theft Of Government Money

DENVER – Jimmie Dean Korf, age 49, of Weldona, Colorado, was sentenced late last week by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger for theft of $92,579 as a Postal Service Highway Contract supplier in Morgan County, according to U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer and U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General Acting Special Agent in Charge Steven Stuller. 

Chief Judge Krieger ordered Korf to serve 12 months’ probation, requiring him to report to jail every weekend and every holiday.  The defendant was indicted on September 27, 2017.  He pled guilty on June 13, 2018, and was sentenced on September 20, 2018.

According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, the Postal Service contracts for over-the-road mail transportation.  Korf was a Postal Service Highway Contract supplier, but not a Postal Service employee.  He was required to certify the time he was on the road transporting the mail.  Between June 2013 and November 2014, Korf illegally received $92,579 from the U.S. Postal Service by forging supervisory signatures on forms to pay him for services he did not provide. 

The investigation into the payments began in February 2015 after an employee at the Fort Morgan Post Office alleged her signature had been forged.  She looked at copies of the forms and noted that the signature on each form was not hers.  She then reported the forgery to the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General.  It was determined that Korf forged the signatures.  A subsequent review of the Postal Service’s payment records revealed that the defendant claimed 237 extra trips totaling 53,360 miles.  Postal Service documents only support 10 trips totaling 1,584 miles. 

“The Postal Service Office of the Inspector General has a long history of doing superlative investigative work to ensure public trust,” said U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer.  “Our office is always happy to be on their team.”

“We are gratified to have contributed to this investigation and applaud the exceptional work by the United States Attorney’s Office for both protecting the contracting process and overall program costs,” said Steven Stuller, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Along with our law enforcement partners, the USPS OIG will continue to aggressively investigate those who would engage in fraudulent activities designed to defraud the Postal Service.” 

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General.  The defendant was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason St. Julien.