Former USPS Supervisor Admits Stealing Cash and Gift Cards from Mail

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, announced that DEBRA WATSON, 64, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to obstruction of mails.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Watson was employed as a supervisor at the U.S. Postal Service's processing and distribution center in Hartford. From December 2021 through July 2022, Watson took envelopes from the mail stream, removed cash and gift cards, resealed the envelopes, and returned them to the mail stream at another location. When confronted by law enforcement on July 15, 2022, Watson had 53 pieces of mail on her person and a $500 gift card that had taken from the mail.

Judge Meyer scheduled sentencing for January 21, 2025, at which time Watson faces a maximum term of imprisonment of six months.

This matter has been investigated by the U.S. Postal Service, Office of the Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Dearington.