Dean Hudson, Postal Worker, Gets 5 Months For Stealing Kids' Birthday Cash

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Northern California postal worker has been sentenced to five months in federal prison for stealing money from children's birthday cards.

Twenty-nine-year-old Dean Hudson, of East Linda, was ordered to serve five months of home detention after his release from prison. He also must pay nearly $3,000 in restitution.

Hudson pleaded guilty in May to opening mail at the U.S. Postal Service facility in Olivehurst and taking money that was included in children's birthday cards.

Postal Service inspectors began an investigation after residents in Chico reported receiving mail that had been opened.

U.S. District Judge Edward Garcia sentenced Hudson on Friday.

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Information from: Appeal-Democrat, http://www.appeal-democrat.com

Comments

[jennytaylia]

08:35 PM on 07/19/2009

This f.cker should have gotten 5 YEARS, not months.

Sleeeezeba//.

[pogo]

08:12 PM on 07/19/2009

So, stealing from children gets you five months, but stealing from America's wealthiest parasites gets you 150 years. Wonder why?

[ywcachieve]

07:38 PM on 07/19/2009

Who sends cash in the mail. Whoever does not have better sense than to send cash in the mail, deserves to lose the money.

[pat8942]

06:30 PM on 07/19/2009

Never send cash in the mail.

[Jane Devin]

05:19 PM on 07/19/2009

I worked for the USPS as a casual rural carrier and without fail, especially around the holidays and graduations, I would receive two to three times the number of ripped-open envelopes to deliver to customers. I'd bring them to the supervisor, who told me to put them in plastic envelopes indicating that the machinery was at fault.

People tend to want to blame the carrier for every mishap and theft, but mail travels through several facilities before it reaches the carrier, meaning there are many hands and opportunities for theft -- the postal worker in this story, for instance, was not a carrier but worked in one of the plants.

People who receive damaged mail or parcels, or who don't receive them at all, need to do what these people did and complain loudly, and if their complaints aren't being considered they need to elevate them to the next level. The USPS is huge, and with so many different facilities it can be hard to track down individual items, but when there are several theft complaints the postal inspectors can usually find the source.

[georgiegirl]

06:01 PM on 07/19/2009

I agree. I worked for the USPS for 8 years. The majority of the time was in CFS forwarding mail, but I did spend 10 months in automation where the machines sort the mail. I heard some very strange stories about past and current employees. The majority of employees are honest individuals, but every so often a lowlife comes around. There was even a carrier arrested because instead of delivering the mail, he stored it in his garage.
So, please contact your Post Master if there is a problem with your mail, the sooner they know that there is a problem, the sooner it can be investigated.
I am surprised that this particular employee only got 5 months. We were always told that even if we took a dollar we could be fined a large sum of money and spend years in prison. Let's face it, he may have been caught taking birthday money but I'm sure it had been going on for some time.

[jerryfromcalifornia]

04:18 PM on 07/19/2009

A stupid thing to do, blow a good paying job with a federal pension for a few dollars.
jerry belairca

[glomtt]

04:09 PM on 07/19/2009

And they're worried about Sotamayor!!!! Give me a break!!!

[jukesgrrl]

03:57 PM on 07/19/2009

Long before music could be downloaded, I quit buying music CDs on line because they were always stolen. The outfit I used to buy from even started putting their items in envelopes with just a PO box return address -- and they still went out of business.

[Gary50]

11:13 AM on 07/19/2009

I use the post office for my business, buying and selling on Ebay. Twice in the last six months I have been robbed of items from my PO box that I bought on Ebay. The first item cost me $233 and the second $102. I sure hope they catch the thieving a**hole. No insurance was available on the first item, shipped from Canada, and I screwed up on the second by not paying for insurance. The thief is smart enough to let a long time pass between thefts.

[timmmahhhh]

12:29 PM on 07/19/2009

That does suck - see the post from HekmabaJuzimax below.

[vegangoddess]

05:15 PM on 07/19/2009

yep, I had a wireless modem stolen from my post office at my old address and the post office was right across the street. I learned after that incident and the careless, laisez faire attitude of the supervisors to always have insurance on items purchased through Ebay.

[JerseyGirl4Obama]

09:43 AM on 07/19/2009

Don't forget that the Postal Service hires from the public - yeah, people like you - and they are not all honest. That doesn't mean they are all thieves. There all plenty good, honest and hard working people who also work for the Postal Service. And UPS and Fedex are perfect either.

[Lerrin]

01:07 PM on 07/19/2009

The hardest working, most honest people with whom I've ever worked are at the USPS (working summers during undergrad as a substitute rural carrier ).
Those cubby holes in those cases that you see for mail sorting are NOT in alphabetical order- they're in driving route order, and people don't live in alphabetical order.
The worst: those d*mned Postal Inspectors peering at you from one way mirrors at the top of the room.
The environment is very miltaristic and actually can incite paranoia even in the honest people there. They'd even TRY to catch you doing things wrong: inspectors planting money in mailboxes (which you'd NEVER touch!), and then writeups to your boss (from inspectors sitting on route) if you were EARLY at certain points on your route. (once written up because I was 1:24 (!!!) minutes EARLY at a particular point on route.)
The best: the sanctimonious, judgemental retirees who would be standing near their mailbox because you weren't as fast as the regular carrier, looking at their watches, waiting for the Jesus/Mary/Joseph mail. Because of privacy issues, we could never tell them about the amount of porn that their adult child (living in their basement) was getting at their P.O. box downtown, but we knew about it and enjoyed the irony- but never a word.
One of the most difficult jobs out there is working for the USPS, and the workers get little respect and too much derision.

[respected]

02:48 PM on 07/19/2009

You've got to be kidding. Just google UPS ripoffs and see the testimonials. I was a victim where they claimed they delivered a package. However it was to an address that was compltely different from what was on the label. Them they pretended that the driver went back several times to try to retrieve it. What i recommend to anyone that this happens to is call the police and let UPS know that you are filing it as a theft. Their internal system should be held accountable.

[respected]

02:51 PM on 07/19/2009

correctio....google UPS thefts

[jtj]

11:36 PM on 07/18/2009

Only 5 months for a federal employee breaking a fed offense. Should serve a longer sentence.

[devinsbuddy]

10:45 PM on 07/18/2009

Only five months? i guess crime DOES pay!

[jt austin]

11:00 PM on 07/18/2009

Remember, Donte Stallworth (football player) only served 24 days of a 30-day sentence for DUI Manslaughter. Kill someone = 24 days. Swipe some cash out of kids birthday cards = 150 days.
Does that seem really wrong to anyone else - or is it just me?

[timmmahhhh]

12:22 PM on 07/19/2009

Yes but with that record he'll never get another government job with government benefits. So did it really pay? Was it worth birthday card money to lose five months of his life and thousands of dollars of health benefits over his lifetime?

[respected]

09:43 PM on 07/18/2009

Airport baggage handlers are next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[joocee102]

12:10 AM on 07/19/2009

Highly unlikely. Airports don't have the resources to place a camera in every planes baggage holds, or conveyor belt, and review every tape.

[samjung23]

09:22 PM on 07/18/2009

But if you knock over a mailbox, you get 10 years in prison?

What did I miss?

[Gasparilla]

07:46 AM on 07/19/2009

When was that?

[DoctorWhoDat]

09:21 PM on 07/18/2009

To the Postal worker who took $10 out of my daughters birthday......Your next, They will find you.

[Gasparilla]

11:32 AM on 07/19/2009

Sometimes people will go around after the mail carrier and remove just delivered mail. Happens all the time.