After investigators arranged a successful sting to catch a New Orleans-area U.S. Post Office letter carrier stealing money and gift cards from mail she had opened, they found 54 pieces of rifled-through mail stashed in her personal vehicle, federal court records show.
U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser’s office on Monday (Feb. 25) announced the letter carrier, Courtney Duplessis, 30, pleaded guilty on Feb. 21 to one count of theft of mail. She had been assigned to Carrollton Station Post office and then to Elmwood Station Post Office at the time the thefts occurred, prosecutors say.
Investigators were tipped to the repeated theft after customers complained about delivery of their mail, according to a “factual basis” document filed in federal court. The investigation found Duplessis, who when confronted by authorities admitted to the theft, stole mail containing gift cards and cash that was intended for delivery between October 2017 and June 2018.
Early in the investigation, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Postal Service mailed a “piece of test mail” with a $15 Target gift card to a cooperating postal customer, in area code 70118, the document states. It was not delivered. Authorities then confirmed Duplessis used the same Target gift card last March at the Target on Clearview Parkway in Metairie. Surveillance video from the store shows her leaving the store after using the card, prosecutors say.