Former USPS Letter Carrier Daniyelle Barnes Pleads Guilty To Stealing Mail
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A former letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of mail theft by an employee, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland said.
Daniyelle Barnes, 27, of Randallstown, reportedly admitted to stealing the mail, which included credit cards, while she worked as a letter carrier at the post office in Randallstown.
Police first began investigating the case in July 2019 when they found a dozen credit cards during a traffic stop, according to a plea agreement. Police searched an apartment in Owings Mills later that month and found at least another dozen stolen credit/debit cards as well as other fake identification documents. Many of the credit cards were in the names of people on Barnes' route.
In December, officials put envelopes with credit cards for fake people who lived outside her route in her daily delivery. According to the plea agreement, she took the envelopes on her delivery against policy and hid them.
When she got back to the post office at the end of the day, she put a number of items into her vehicle from her mail vehicle before going inside to sort missent mail. The plea agreement said the bait envelopes were not among them.
Law enforcement officials later found those envelopes in her personal vehicle. Officials said she admitted to stealing the mail and giving it to another person whose name she did not know at least 10 to 12 times starting in June 2019.
Barnes could spend up to five years in federal prison. Sentencing is set for February 25.
She is also required to pay nearly $4,200 in restitution, the amount the owners of the credit cards lost, officials said.
