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Press Release

Former Warrensburg Postal Worker Pleads Guilty to Stealing Mail

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former postal worker in Warrensburg, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing thousands of pieces of mail that were not delivered.

 

David Thompson, 54, of Warrensburg, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to the delay and destruction of mail by a postal employee.

 

Thompson, who began his career with the U.S. Postal Service in 1990, was the regular mail carrier assigned to a delivery route from the Warrensburg post office on 201 E. Gay Street. He was placed on off-duty status on Jan. 21, 2014, and he is no longer in the employment of the Postal Service.

 

By pleading guilty today, Thompson admitted that he stole at least 20,000 pieces of mail addressed to 5,571 recipients from May 2012 to Jan. 18, 2014. Thompson admitted that he threw the mail into a dumpster or kept it in his house and personal vehicle rather than delivering the mail to its recipients. The mail was unopened and no specific monetary loss was identified.

 

Thompson’s supervisors suspected in late 2013 that he was drinking alcohol while on duty and while delivering mail on his official route. During their investigation, a covert camera was installed in his delivery vehicle. Thompson was observed pulling mail already sorted for delivery and placing the mail in a white tub, which he hid in a carport at his personal residence. The next two days, he also pulled mail already sorted for delivery, and each day he bundled it and put it into his personal vehicle. On Jan. 11, 2014, Thompson was recorded throwing a bundle of mail into a trash container, and later placing a tub of mail underneath the carport at his residence. On Jan. 13, 2014, he placed his coat over a tub of mail and placed the mail into his personal vehicle. On Jan. 15, 2014, he took a tub of mail and placed it under the carport at his residence. The next two days, he did the same thing. He took more mail on Jan. 18, 2014. On Jan. 17, 2014, a federal agent recovered four black plastic trash bags of mail from Thompson’s route from the dumpster behind the Elk’s Lodge (where Thompson was a member and served as Exalted Ruler)  located at 822 E. Young Avenue in Warrensburg.

 

Under federal statutes, Thompson is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel M. Nelson. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

Updated June 1, 2015