Former Glastonbury Mail Carrier Admits Stealing U.S. Treasury Check: Feds

GLASTONBURY, CT — A former postal service carrier who had a route in Glastonbury has admitted to stealing a U.S. Treasury Check from the mail, a federal prosecutor said.

David X. Sullivan, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Ernesto Rodriguez Jr., 31, formerly of East Hartford and currently residing in Tampa, Florida, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Tuesday in Hartford federal court to a charge related to his theft of a U.S. Treasury check from the mail while working for the U.S. Postal Service.

According to court documents, in 2021, Rodriguez, while employed by the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier in Glastonbury, was asked by an acquaintance to intercept federal tax refund checks that would be mailed to addresses on his mail carrier route. After taking the checks, he would deliver them to an unknown individual in New York and be paid approximately $100 for each check, according to case records. Rodriguez gave his acquaintance information about his route so that refund checks could be sent to those addresses, and was subsequently provided with approximately 10 names and addresses for checks he was supposed to take from the mail, case records state.

In October 2021, Rodriguez stole a U.S. Treasury tax refund check in the amount of $4,943.17 from the mail before it was delivered to an address on his route, according to case records. On Oct. 23, 2021, he deposited the check into his wife's bank account and, two days later, he transferred $4,500 from his wife’s account to his own bank account, and subsequently spent the money for personal use, according to case records.

Rodriguez resigned from the U.S. Postal Service on October 23, 2021. He told law enforcement that he only stole one check as part of the scheme, Sullivan said.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty to theft of public money, an offense that carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford on Sept. 24.

Rodriguez is released on a $15,000 bond pending sentencing.