Former USPS carrier convicted of stealing mail

A former mail carrier has been found guilty of stealing and failing to deliver mail.

A federal jury in Cape Girardeau found Robert Gafford, 33, of Jackson guilty of one count of delaying or destroying mail and one count of embezzlement of mail, according to a release from Sayler Fleming, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Gafford worked at the Cape Girardeau post office annex and delivered mail on a Scott City route. In late 2021, the Cape Girardeau postmaster received complaints from a couple on Gafford’s route, contending they were not receiving bills and packages. The couple used Informed Delivery, a Postal Service program that provides images of arriving mail. The couple provided images of mail they did not receive.

The postmaster directed a supervisor to check daily for mail addressed to the couple, and the supervisor found their mail left at the post office and was unable to locate other mail that should have been delivered. When confronted and directed to deliver the mail, Gafford said he did not "like the location of the victims’ mailbox".

After they did not receive more mail items, the couple mailed a GPS tracking device to themselves and traced it to Gafford’s home.

A Postal Service investigator also mailed a tracking device to the couple. Postal Service personnel observed Gafford stop at his personal vehicle before leaving to deliver mail on that day and tracked Gafford’s vehicle as he skipped the couple’s address. They located the tracking device in Gafford’s personal vehicle after he left work for the day.

Gafford is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday, May 21. Each charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine or both.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Hahn and Christopher Shelton are prosecuting the case.