Former Postal worker pleads guilty to embezzlement of mail

A former U.S. Postal Service letter carrier admitted Tuesday, Dec. 10, in the U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to stealing gift cards from the mail.

Joseph Wilkins, 56, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement of mail. According to an Office of the U.S. Attorney Eastern District of Missouri news release, Wilkins admitted to stealing 10 to 12 gift cards from customers' mail between December 2023 and April 2024, and then made personal purchases with the stolen cards.

The release stated that an investigation was done by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General after a person in California had sent a Christmas card that contained two Amazon gift cards to a home in Cape Girardeau.

"The card never arrived," the release stated. "The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General revealed that Wilkins, a city carrier at the Cape Carrier Annex in Cape Girardeau, had used the gift cards."

The document states Wilkins is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday, March 11, and the charge carries a potential penalty of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.