Woman pleads guilty to obstruction of mail

By Harold Gwin

Authorities said the woman had worked as a casual mail handler for 14 years.

YOUNGSTOWN — A former U.S. Postal Service employee accused of stealing cash and gift cards from mail she handled pleaded guilty to a charge of delay or obstruction of the U.S. mail.

Marla Randolph, 39, of Trumbull Drive, Niles, faces a fine and imprisonment of up to six months.

A federal grand jury handed down a six-count indictment against Randolph on March 25.

The indictment said she was working at the Youngstown Processing and Distribution Center as a “casual mail handler” when she was accused of taking money and gift cards from mail on five occasions between September and December 2008.

Rudolph and a second casual mail handler connected to the case were fired in December.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Blas Serrano said it is unlikely that charges will be filed against that second person but didn’t say why.

Randolph entered her plea in Cleveland on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Dan A. Polster.

Scott Balfour, assistant special agent-in-charge — Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Postal Service, said the Postal Service had received a number of complaints from customers who said their mail arrived minus cash or gift cards.

A subsequent investigation identified Randolph as being responsible for some of those thefts, he said. She took items from letters and then allowed those letters to be processed through the system and delivered, he said.

Randolph had worked off and on as a casual mail handler — she was called to work when the volume of mail required it — for 14 years, he said.

Serrano said the five actual theft-of-mail charges listed in the indictment were dropped in exchange for Randolph’s guilty plea to delay or obstruction of mail.

Balfour said a check of records for the greater Youngstown area over the last five years showed no other accusations of mail theft by a postal employee that resulted in any criminal charges.

He did say that agents from the inspector general’s office interviewed a local highway contract route driver June 3 in a mail theft investigation, but no charges have been filed.

Highway contract route drivers are not Postal Service employees but are contracted to move mail from a processing center to various post offices, Balfour said.

“The vast majority of the Postal Service’s 765,000 employees and contractors are dedicated and hard-working individuals who work around the clock to deliver the mail to its proper destination,” Balfour said. “Unfortunately, there are a few individuals who choose to betray the public’s trust.”

To report allegations of mail theft or other postal employee misconduct, contact the Office of Inspector General at www.uspsoig.gov or call (888) 877-7644.

gwin@vindy.com