Postal worker sentenced to more than 5 years in federal prison for theft of mail and making false statements to obtain worker’s compensation benefits

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Debra Lynn Sheffield, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, to 63 months imprisonment and ordered to pay nearly $30,000.00 in restitution. Sheffield, age 40, pled guilty in March to a felony information which charged her with one count of Theft of Mail Matter and one count of making False Statements to Obtain Federal Employee’s Compensation.

In late November 2005, U.S. Postal Inspectors recovered large amounts of opened and undelivered mail from a trash dumpster at the Great Western Inn in Saginaw, Texas. On December 13, 2005, Postal Inspectors recovered more opened mail from that dumpster and learned that it was undelivered mail which had been previously deposited into blue postal authorized depository boxes by a Postal employee in the Watauga, Texas area. Postal Inspectors began surveillance and observed Sheffield arrive at a blue depository box in Watauga and watched as she used a key to open the locked door of the depository box. Sheffield gathered undelivered mail and returned to her motel room at the Great Western Inn which she shared with co-defendant Hugh Masters.

Shortly thereafter, U.S. Postal Inspectors knocked on their motel room door, and she and Masters came to the door and allowed the Postal Inspectors into the room where they found approximately 7000 pieces of undelivered mail on the bed, floor and in U.S. Postal Service mail containers. Sheffield allowed the Inspectors to search the room and her vehicle and they found that 1700 pieces of mail had been opened. Much of the opened mail had contained approximately 300 DVDs, cash, numerous gift cards, and several music CDs. Sheffield and Masters admitted to stealing and possessing U.S. Mail for personal gain by removing the gift cards, cash CDs, and DVDs from unopened letters and packages. Co-defendant, Hugh Masters, also pled guilty to theft of mail matter and was also sentenced yesterday by Judge Means to 41 months imprisonment and ordered to pay nearly $22,000.00 in restitution. Hugh Masters was not a Postal employee.

Sheffield had been on worker’s compensation benefits since 2000 for an injury she suffered as a Postal employee. Sheffield admitted that in 2005 she provided false information to the Office for Worker’s Compensation Program of the U.S. Department of Labor in order to receive a boost in monthly payments. As a result of her false statement, the U.S. Postal Service began to pay her 75% of her former salary which was retroactive to 15 months. These additional paid benefits resulted in a gain of approximately $7000 to Sheffield.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the excellent investigative work of the U.S Postal Inspection Service and the Saginaw, Texas, Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bret Helmer.