BOSTON – A supervisor for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has been charged in federal court in Boston with allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in government funds through a false travel reimbursement scheme.
Anthony Fernandes, 37, of Douglas, Mass. was charged with one count of theft of government money. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
According to the charging documents, Fernandes was a supervisor for the USPS in Buzzards Bay. It is alleged that Fernandes fraudulently used his USPS supervisor’s travel authorization account to approve approximately $52,987 in bogus travel reimbursement requests for the period of April through November 2022.
The charge of theft of government money provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to a $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Chao, Chief of Rollins’ Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit, is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.