Winter Harbor Woman Sentenced to Probation for Theft from the Postal Service

Contact: Chris Ruge
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 945-0373

Bangor, Maine:  United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Sandra Melnick, 53, of Winter Harbor, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. to three years of probation for the theft of public money.  She was also ordered to pay the U.S. Postal Service $1,629.55 in restitution.  The defendant pled guilty on August 11, 2015.

According to court records, from about May 19 to September 12, 2014, while serving as a Postmaster Relief at the Sullivan, Maine Post Office, Melnick issued a series of money orders without reporting the sale or tendering the money to the Postal Service.  Many of these money orders were cashed by recipients before the defendant reported them as sold.  When Postal Service investigators audited Melnick’s accounts, there were three previously-cashed money orders that Melnick had not reported as sold. 

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Service, Office of the Inspector General.