Postal carrier charged with stealing letters

A U.S. Postal worker in Colorado Springs is charged with stealing mail after investigators found about half of the 79 firstclass letters he carried in his vehicle had been opened.

“There is probable cause to believe that Ryan P. Medina stole mail while employed as a USPS employee at the Cheyenne Mountain Station,” according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver by a special agent with the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

Agents planted a small transmitter that could be monitored by inspectors in a first-class letter addressed to a location outside the delivery zone of the Cheyenne Mountain Station in Colorado Springs.

After sorting mail, Medina left the post office to make his deliveries. Agents determined that he was carrying the letter that included a transmitter.

When he returned to the post office, the transmitter signal confirmed to agents the letter was still in his vehicle. Medina went into the post office and clocked out then returned to the vehicle and drove from the lot.

Agents stopped him and asked Medina if he had any mail that didn’t belong to him. He said he didn’t. But agents who searched the car allegedly found a carrier satchel containing two bundles of first-class mail.

Half the letters had been opened, though none was addressed to Medina.

Medina is charged with theft of mail matter by officer or employee and faces a possible penalty of up to 5 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, as well as three years of supervised release.