Local postal employee charged for allegedly stealing mail

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A United States postal employee from the Toledo area accused of stealing mail is now facing federal charges.

Investigators say it happened over a three-month time frame. Prosecutors are charging Megan Huffman, with one count of theft of mail by a postal employee. At this time, officials have not identified where the thefts happened.

Whether it goes into the blue box, going into your home’s mailbox for delivery or arriving at your home, the expectation is that your mail is safe. A recent federal court affidavit outlines what can potentially happen.

Huffman was not indicted on these charges, she was charged in federal court via something called an information. That’s when a defendant waives their right to a grand jury proceeding and goes right into a prosecution.

The document says Huffman stole, removed mail or something intended to be conveyed by mail between October and December of last year.

It’s not clear yet in which exact area Huffman worked. Her charging documents only say it was somewhere in the Northern District of Ohio.

No future court dates have been set.

Theft of mail is a crime on the rise. US postal inspectors initiated more than 1100 mail theft cases in 2022. The year before that it was just over 1000. Very few of those involved their own postal employees.

Statement from the Postal Service Office of Inspector General:

As a matter of standard U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) protocol, since this is an open investigation, we cannot provide any information on this case.

The Postal Service employs more than 653,167 employees and is the largest civilian federal workforce in the country. This type of behavior within the Postal Service is not tolerated and is a rare occurrence. It is important for the public we serve to know the overwhelming majority of Postal Service employees are honest, hardworking, and trustworthy individuals who would never consider engaging in any type of criminal behavior.

As an independent federal agency, the Postal Service provides delivery service that visits every address in the nation. The Postal Service delivers more than 128.9 billion pieces of mail yearly to 163 million delivery points and operates 31,247 Postal Service-managed retail offices. America’s postal system is one of the government’s most trusted entities.

The USPS OIG considers the allegations of delay, destruction, or theft of any U.S. Mail by any Postal Service employee to be a very serious issue. When such allegations are made, USPS OIG special agents vigorously investigate those allegations.

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