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LINCOLN, Neb. — A former Panhandle postal carrier has been sentenced in federal court for stealing mail.
Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Russell announced Friday that 56-year-old Jean Thomas of Gering was sentenced to two years’ probation. Thomas was also handed down a $250 fine.
From 2017 until October 2021, Thomas was a rural route carrier for the United States Postal Service in western Nebraska. Following complaints of missing mail from postal customers on Thomas’s delivery route, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General began an investigation.
From April until August of 2021, a special agent with the Office of the Inspector General placed mail “test pieces” containing gift cards of various values in the mail for delivery by Thomas.
At least six of those test pieces were not delivered or properly returned to the post office. An investigation that included review of store financial transactions and surveillance video revealed that Thomas took those gift cards ranging in value from $10 to $20 for her own personal use.
Thomas was indicted late last year.
All six of the charges that Thomas was initially facing carried a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment and a three-year term of supervised release.
Thomas’ case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General for the United States Postal Service.
