Judge: Post office clerk will pay $20K he stole

A San Diego U.S. Postal Service employee must pay more than $20,000 in restitution for stealing money orders from customers instead of mailing them as requested.

Esteban Sanchez, who was arrested in August in the case, served one day in custody before being released on bond. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel sentenced him to time served. The U.S. Attorney’s Office had asked for six months behind bars.

Sanchez, 26, swiped the funds from February 2019 through May 2019 while he was working as a clerk at two post offices — the Encanto branch in Valencia Park and the Southeastern branch in Logan Heights, prosecutors said.

Customers would buy the money orders from him, place them in envelopes and ask Sanchez to mail them — often to pay rent and other essentials, authorities said. Instead, Sanchez pocketed the orders and cashed them.

Two customers filed complaints at the post offices, saying the money orders had never reached their intended destinations. An investigation found that Sanchez had stolen at least 31 money orders from 21 customers totaling $20,153.

Some of the thefts were caught on surveillance camera inside the post office, according to prosecutors.

The victims were reimbursed by the Postal Service. Sanchez also worked at the post office in Rolando at that time, but the investigation did not show thefts from there.

Sanchez pleaded guilty to theft of mail by a postal employee in November.

His defense attorney, Roxana Sandoval, said in court records that a time-served sentence was adequate and was recommended by the federal probation office.

“He committed the offense because he was under a tremendous amount of financial pressure; he was supporting his wife and his disabled parents,” she wrote.

Brian Washington, special agent in charge of the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, said in a statement that most Postal Service employees are “hardworking and honest.”

“I want to stress that we are committed to preserving the integrity of the U.S. Mail and U.S. Postal Service resources,” he said.