Well it wasn’t exactly a guns drawn bank robbery but I earned the adoration of several postal employees today.
While I am in line at the post office today at lunch I notice something odd. A guy who is browsing through the stamp displays at the post office grabs a stack of stamp packets about 2-3 inches thick. (each one being a sheet of 20 stamps with a thin cardboard backing). He then inserts them into a box and proceeds to seal the box, apply an address and get in line with everyone else waiting for assistance. The guy is about 15 people behind me and I get to the counter and tell the clerk. She tells me to hang out in the area if I can and she will look into it. I ship my item and go grab lunch at the fast food place next door then walk back. I come out of FF place in time to see the guy running flat out across the parking lot like his life depended on it. I walk in his direction to see if I can get a plate # but the guy was 300+ yards away and I lost track of him. So I go back into the post office and all but one of the clerks are gone. I wander up to the counter and ask what happened and she grabs the clerk i spoke to before. She comes out with the box (opened) shows me the contents and thanks me. The guy walked up shipped the package (unfortunately he paid cash) and left. The checked the box and sure enough $860 in stamps crammed in the box. She then asked me to put my name and #'s on a paper in case they needed me to be a witness and stated that she believed there is a reward for my actions.
So in a nutshell my questions are this:
#1 Is this a simple shoplifting or is it somehow “stepped up” by stealing from a federal agency especially a post office.
#2 Anybody heard of rewards for this, hell even if it was just an attaboy and a nice card from the postmaster I think it would be cool.
I’ll add a question while I look for answers to your questions:
Is it common for post offices to have stamps out on display by the sheet where people can just pick them up? I’ve never seen such a thing in a post office.
The way the post office works, they’ll probably confuse your name and address with the name and address of the crook. Instead of being called as a witness, you’ll be the defendant!
My understanding is that the post office (or mail-related crimes) is under federal jurisdiction. That guy is in serious trouble. You do NOT mess with the postal inspectors.
This post office is a little one attached to a store, they have a big display of current collector sets and such, they have cameras and anti theft systems. I guess they didnt plan for someone trying to ship the merchandise out through them.
"*The United States Postal Service offers a reward up to the amounts shown for information and services leading to the arrest and conviction of any person for the following offenses:
“ROBBERY $50,000 - Robbery or attempted robbery of any custodian of any mail, or money or other property of the United States under the control and jurisdiction of the United States Postal Service.*”
It seems to me that you could fall into one of those two categories. I’m sure you would fall into the up to category and aren’t looking at $50,000 or even $10,000. It could also be contingent on a conviction, which doesn’t seem likely.
My questions would be this, who did he try to ship them to…wonder if the FBI will be “attempting delivery” to see what happens. If he attempted to ship them to a friend or relative he is probably dead meat. As far as a reward like I said a lil something suitable for framing would be nice bonus points on a postal exam maybe :D. Free junk mail filtering for a year
I’ve often thought that “Postal Cops” would make a good TV show. There could be all sorts of crimes that somehow involve the Post Office, and our intrepid postal detectives could help solve the crimes. Sorta like Quincy, but without the corpses. Hmmm, come to think of it, it could be very much like Quincy, what with the forensic evidence and all.
In other news, I have the misfortune of knowing an ex-lawyer who forged his client’s signature. Unbeknownst to him, the client had already died. So he was disbarred, of course. He was also thrown in jail–for mail fraud. Since he had mailed the forged document, it fell under that jurisdiction. The way I see it, it was sort of like jailing Al Capone for tax evasion–it wasn’t the “real” crime, but it was sufficient to throw his ass in jail. (He soon moved to a “house arrest” situation, where he has to wear one of those ankle bracelet thingies. But I digress…)
Yeah, you don’t want to screw around with the postal system.
There is a movie called The Inspectors - with Louis Gosset Jr. - about postal inspectors – who are postal cops. There is also a sequel: * The Inspectors 2 - A Shred of Evidence * – focusing on identity theft.
The theft incident is amazing! I’ve seen those stands of pre-packed stamps & wondered if anyone would attempt to steal them.
Just for what it’s worth, the offense described in the OP is not robbery. It is theft, certainly.
Robbery is the unlawful taking of personal property from a person by violence or by threat of violence. Theft is the taking of property or services from another without consent.
