Federal agents say a Postal Service worker stole at least 20 priority mail envelopes from a Florida City clothing outlet store that were destined for Ohio and contained tens of thousands of dollars in cash.
From November until late this month, 36 priority mail envelopes sent from the Van Heusen clothing store at the Florida Keys Outlet Center in Florida City containing $94,000 in cash never made it to their destination, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General Tuesday.
Twenty of those envelopes were picked up by postal carrier Justin Lee Swanson, 28, according to the complaint. He was arrested on Monday on one count of mail theft matter by an officer or employee after he was caught leaving his post office with a priority mail envelope containing $800, the complaint states.
The envelope was a set-up or what the complaint referred to as “a live integrity test.” Agents with the Postal Service OIG gave the envelope, which contained an electronic tracking beacon, to the manager of Van Heusen, who gave it to Swanson.