JENISON, Mich. – A U.S. Postal Service employee has been charged with stealing items from the mail, including clothing and razor blades.
The thefts occurred over a five-day period in January, according to a federal indictment filed this week in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.
Postal employee James A. Marr is accused of removing and stealing a variety of items from the post office branch in Jenison, court records show.
Two sweatshirts, an unknown quantity of decorative seashells and a packet of Dollar Shave Club razor blades were taken from three mail packages, according to the one-page federal indictment.
The Jenison post office is located at 408 Chicago Drive, west of Cottonwood Drive in Ottawa County.
Theft of mail matter by an employee is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Marr has a federal court appearance set for Aug. 19.
According to the USPS Office of Inspector General, “a small number of employees abuse the public’s trust by delaying or stealing the mail.’’
During the reporting period October, 2017 through September, 2018, special agents conducted 1,262 internal mail theft investigations, resulting in 425 arrests.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Grand Rapids handles a handful of mail theft cases each year.
Recent cases include a U.S. postal clerk in East Lansing who was sentenced in May to two years of probation for stealing $5,267 in cash. She was charged with misappropriation of postal funds, a 10-year felony.
Heather Colleen Woods, a 19-year postal employee, admitted that she took the money in 2018 to pay bills and gamble.
In April, a longtime postal employee who admitted to taking cash from greeting cards in Kalamazoo was sentenced to probation and fined $2,500. Michael Phillip Gibson, 65, has since retired.
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