Former Postal Employee Sentenced on Conspiracy Charges

St Louis, MO – Quentin Cook, Florissant, MO, was sentenced to 48 months in prison.  In February, after a three-day trial before United States District Judge Ronnie L. White, he was convicted of diverting mail believed to contain clothing, marijuana and other items to addresses that he and his co-defendants controlled.  Cook and his co-defendants were former Postal employees of the Network Distribution Center in Hazelwood. 

According to court documents and testimony presented at trial, Edward Lewis, Sean West, Korey Howard and Quentin Cook are former employees of the United States Postal Service. West, Howard and Cook searched for and identified mail and over-labeled it to redirect it from its original sender’s intended recipient to themselves, Lewis and others. The diverted mail included clothing, marijuana, electronics, computer equipment, pottery and personal effects. 

Korey Howard, Florissant, MO; Edward Lewis, Hazelwood, MO; and Sean West, Florissant, MO, pled guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy, obstruction of correspondence and theft or receipt of stolen mail in December 2015.  Howard and West were each sentenced to 24 months in prison.  Edward Lewis will be sentenced later this month.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service-Office of Inspector General and the Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony Franks and Dianna Collins handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.