U.S. Postal Inspector Charged with Mail Theft, Obstruction of Justice, and Money Laundering

December 8, 2023 A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Louisiana returned an indictment yesterday charging a U.S. Postal Inspector with mail theft, obstruction of justice, and money laundering. According to the indictment, Michael Morse, 52, of Madisonville, Louisiana, served as a Postal Inspector in the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. In this role,…

 Continue reading

USPS: Nationwide Effort to Crack Down on Postal Crime and Crimes Against Postal Employees

Monetary Rewards Increased for Information that Leads to the Arrest and Conviction of a Perpetrator of Postal Crime WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S Postal Service (USPS) and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (Inspection Service) today provided an update on their Project Safe Delivery campaign to crack down on postal crimes, including attacks against postal employees. Announced in May 2023,…

 Continue reading

Former Indiana USPS Customer Service Manager Sentenced to Over 3 Years in Federal Prison for Mail Theft and Bank Fraud Conspiracy

August 23, 2023 INDIANAPOLIS- James Lancaster, 42, of Indianapolis, Indiana, has been sentenced to 40 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail theft. A co-conspirator, Jordan McPhearson, of Blue Island, Illinois was sentenced in 2022 to 42 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to…

 Continue reading

USPS, Inspection Service expand crime prevention measures

May 12, 2023 USPS and the Postal Inspection Service have announced expanded actions to protect employees and the security of the nation’s mail and packages as threats and attacks on letter carriers and mail fraud incidents escalate amid a national rise in crime. In fiscal year 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021-Sept. 30, 2022), 412 letter carriers…

 Continue reading

All USPS employees have a responsibility to protect the sanctity of the mail

April 28, 2022 The Postal Service is reminding all employees of their duty to protect the sanctity of the mail and to treat each piece of mail with care. The public relies on the organization to deliver important items such as gifts for loved ones, medications, election ballots and utility bill payments. When customers entrust…

 Continue reading

Former Post Office Manager Charged in Theft of $1.7 Million in Checks from the Mail

March 9, 2022 INDIANAPOLIS – James Lancaster, 40, of Indianapolis, the former manager of customer service at Indianapolis’ New Augusta Post Office, has been charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and theft of mail. The charges against Lancaster were unsealed late yesterday. On March 1, 2022, a federal grand jury in…

 Continue reading

USPS OIG: Fighting Opportunistic Crime

USPS OIG Blog – June 28, 2021 As the nation struggled with containing the fast-paced coronavirus outbreak, instances of pandemic-related mail theft and mail fraud were also spreading. Indeed, over the course of a year, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) received 339,747 complaints of mail fraud and mail theft, leading the agency to open…

 Continue reading

U.S. Postal Inspection Service Pandemic Response to Mail Fraud and Mail Theft

Objective Our objective was to assess the Postal Inspection Service’s response to mail fraud and mail theft during the COVID-19 pandemic. After we began the audit, we received a congressional request from seven members of Congress asking us to identify what actions, if any, the Postal Inspection Service had taken to address the increase in…

 Continue reading