Post Office Employee Charged With Stealing Mail

Never got that Christmas card from your aunt who likes to slip in a $20? Springfield police and other law enforcement officials think they know why.  A letter carrier for the Springfield Post Office is accused of habitually stealing and tearing through greeting cards in search of money.

After several complaints from Springfield residents about lost mail, the U.S. Postal Inspectors had begun an investigation.  Residents said they were missing mail or that mail left for pick up by a letter carrier never arrived at the intended destination. 

All of the non-received and stolen mail was greeting cards. Police say many of the greeting cards contained either money or personal checks. Most of the people complaining to the post office were residents of a senior citizens complex on Blacks Lane.

On Monday, June 21, US Postal Inspectors and Springfield Police detectives conducted a surveillance of the temporary postal employee handing that area, Shnita L. Montgomery. The 28-year-old Hillside resident was arrested at 11:30 a.m. outside of Caldwell Elementary School. Police say they discovered her while she was opening up greeting card envelopes. A later search of Montgomery's home reportedly yielded dozens of ripped open envelopes that were addressed to Springfield residents or had return address labels indicating Springfield residents mailed them.

Police say a number of personal checks were also among the mail. Police say they believe Montgomery was going to try to convert the checks to cash later.

"This is a prime example of why money should never be sent through the mail as the money was easily taken," Detective Judd Levenson, the case investigator, said in a statement. 

Captain Peter Davis asks that any Springfield residents who, since April of 2010, have either sent out greeting cards that never reached their destination or discovered that a greeting card sent to them never arrived should contact the Springfield Police to report this as an ongoing investigation is still being conducted along with the postal inspectors.

Montgomery was charged with Theft by Failure to Make Required Disposition of Property Received for the theft that took place on June 21. Additional charges are pending additional investigation especially into whether stolen checks were negotiated.