A U.S. postal worker who admitted to stealing more than 6,600 greeting cards filled with cash and checks in Wauwatosa was sentenced in federal court to four years probation on March 20.
Ebony L. Smith of Milwaukee admitted to stealing the cards from April 2017 to January 2018. She had been charged with the thefts in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. She pleaded guilty to the thefts in September 2018.
Wauwatosa residents in 2017 complained to the U.S. Postal Service that they were not receiving greeting cards. Smith, who was identified as the mail carrier in those areas, had started working in March 2015. Officials caught Smith after using a test greeting card with a transmitter that signaled when it was opened.
Additionally, an auto salvage yard contacted USPS after workers discovered 6,625 first class greeting card envelopes and 540 personal checks — some still inside greeting card envelopes — and 45 unopened greeting cards postmarked between 2017 and 2018 in the back of car listed to smith.