Former Rutland postal clerk charged with mail theft
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By Gordon Dritschilo
Staff Writer - Published: July 24, 2010
Federal investigators said Friday that a former postal clerk in the Rutland office has been indicted in the rash of mail thefts reported in the area earlier this year.
A federal grand jury handed down a one-count indictment Thursday charging that Michelle Donahoe “intentionally embezzled letters, mail and articles contained therein” over a four-month period in 2009.
A dozen people contacted the Rutland Herald in March saying they got letters from the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General telling them mail they sent was found in the possession of “someone other than your address.” The reports frequently accompanied stories of missing greeting cards and holiday checks, though nobody described a missing check being cashed.
Rafael Medina, assistant special agent in charge of the Office of the Inspector General in New York City, confirmed Friday that the indictment was related to those letters, but said he could not give out any more information.
U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin emphasized that an indictment is just a charge, not a conviction, and that information on a case is not typically made public before the defendant is arraigned. He said he did not know when Donahoe would be arraigned, though he said it would be “soon.”
“The public record is incredibly sparse in this case and we usually keep a hard line on not revealing more than is in the public record,” he said. “In this situation, it’s something I think is worth the public’s interest.”
Coffin said the evidence would show Donahoe intercepted hundreds of pieces of mail.
“They were not exclusively greeting cards or holiday cards, but they were typically what would be called greeting cards,” he said.
Investigators recovered more than $1,000 worth of checks and cash, Coffin said. Coffin said he was not aware of any attempts to cash any of the stolen checks.
Coffin would not say how Donahoe was caught, if any more charges are likely to be brought or if it appeared she worked alone. He would say that the charge against her carries a maximum of five years in jail.
The indictment comes about a month after the arraignment of the former officer in charge at the Center Rutland Post office on a federal charge of obstructing the passage of mail. Prosecutors said that case was unrelated to the other reports of missing mail in the Rutland area.
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