Postal Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing Mail After Being Caught by Investigators

New Orleans, Louisiana – On August 3, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Patrick Ezell, age 51, of Bogalusa, Louisiana pleaded guilty on August 2, 2022, before the Honorable Wendy B. Vitter, U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Louisiana, to stealing items from the mail he was entrusted to deliver as a postal employee. Sentencing is set for November 1, 2022.

According to documents filed in federal court, Patrick Ezell was working as a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service in Bogalusa, Louisiana, when he was caught stealing items from the mail he was assigned to carry.

The maximum penalty for the offense is up to five years in jail and/or a fine of $250,000, or the greater of twice the defendant’s gross gain or twice the victim’s gross loss, followed by up to three years of supervised release and a mandatory special assessment charge of $100.

U.S. Attorney Evans applauded the work of the United States Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General in investigating this incident. The prosecution is led by Assistant US Attorney Richard R. Pickens, II.