A court hearing this week has been rescheduled in the case of former Lake Havasu City Postmaster Deborah Tinnell. She is now expected to appear later this month as she awaits trial on nine misdemeanor counts of shoplifting.
Tinnell was arrested Dec. 12, following an investigation by local law enforcement into multiple alleged shoplifting incidents at Havasu’s Walmart location that spanned from Oct. 25 to Dec. 11. According to police, Tinnell is accused of intentionally failing to scan items at the store’s self-checkout kiosk, and may have swapped UPC barcodes between cheaper products and more expensive goods in order to pay less than those items’ intended value.
Court records show that Tinnell last month entered a plea of not guilty.
Tinnell was employed by the Lake Havasu City Post Office beginning in 1986, and was appointed as postmaster in 2017. Tinnell was the city’s second female postmaster, and served until her resignation last month.
On Friday, the United States Postal Service denied a public records request by Today’s News-Herald to obtain a copy of Tinnell’s letter of resignation, citing privacy concerns.
Tinnell’s next court appearance is now scheduled to take place Jan. 16 at 2 p.m.