Costa Mesa Post Office supervisor faces up to 20 years for $300,000 theft from mail

A former U.S. Postal Service supervisor faces up to 20 years in federal prison after admitting to stealing checks, gold and other currency worth more than $300,000 from mail at a Costa Mesa post office.

Joivian Tjuana Hayes, 36, of Compton pleaded guilty Friday to one federal count of theft of mail matter by a Postal Service employee and one count of unlawful transfer, possession, and use of means of identification, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. She reached a plea deal with prosecutors in which she has admitted to stealing from mail at the post office from early last year until December, prosecutors said.

In total, the thefts amounted to about $284,000 in checks and up to $40,000 in gold, collector-type currency — such as a Confederate $10 bill — and other items, according to prosecutors. She admitted in the plea agreement to depositing the stolen checks into her own bank accounts by forging signatures of the people they had been made out to.

Prosecutors said a search of Hayes' home last month led to the discovery of gold coins and U.S. currency that had been sent through the mail service, including a $100 bill from 1914 valued at $1,500. When the charges were announced in December, prosecutors said a single check for $114,000 was also among the stolen items.

She was arrested on Dec. 19 after federal agents executed a search at her home earlier that day.

Hayes is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court on May 23. Prosecutors said the unlawful transfer charge carries a maximum possible sentence of 15 years in prison and the theft count can result in a sentence of up to five years.