A mother and son who worked as mail carriers for a contract delivery route for the U.S. Postal Service in Springfield in 2020 were both sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to theft of mail — a federal offense.
Michelle Stevens was sentenced on the morning of March 7, 2024 in U.S. Chief Judge Beth Phillips’ courtroom.
Michelle Stevens’ son, Joseph Shay Stevens, was sentenced about an hour later, also by Judge Phillips.
According to their plea agreements, the mother and son were “substitute carriers” who worked for someone identified as S.W., who had a contract with the U.S. Postal Service for the mail delivery route H104 and collected mail from the John Griesemer Annex Post Office on West Bennett Street in Springfield.
The Stevens delivered mail on this route between January and September of 2020.
The Hauxeda asked a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service about the location of delivery route H104, but has not yet received a response.
Federal employees held to ‘higher standard'
In court March 7, U.S. Attorney Casey Michael Clark said federal employees should be held to a “higher standard” and be “highly scrutinized.”
When crimes such as theft occur, Clark said it “continues to erode” the public’s trust and confidence in federal institutions.
Michelle Stevens’ defense attorney, Marsha Jackson, reminded the judge her client was “technically” not a federal employee. Jackson said Michelle Stevens had been cooperative with her investigation and is employed.
Michelle Stevens spent four months in jail after violating the terms of her release, Jackson said, but has been testing negative for drugs ever since and “has put the drugs behind her.”
Judge calls mail theft a ‘very serious crime'
Before announcing a sentence for Michelle Stevens, Phillips described theft of mail as a “very serious crime.” The judge said the distinction of whether or not the Stevens were federal employees or contractors was “meaningless.”
“You were in a position of trust,” Phillips said to Michelle Stevens. “By violating that trust, you violated the trust of every individual who also uses the U.S. Post Office.”
Phillips sentenced Michelle Stevens to five years of probation and ruled she must complete a substance misuse treatment program, have a job or be doing community service, and that she cannot open an additional line of credit until the restitution is paid.
Joseph Stevens was sentenced to one year of probation.
Michelle and Joseph Stevens are jointly responsible for paying $458 in restitution, under the terms of the ruling.
How were they caught?
After receiving multiple customer complaints, the manager of the West Bennett Street post office reached out to a special agent with the U.S. Postal Office. The agent supplied the manager with prepared test greeting cards containing prepaid gift cards — one contained a $20 card for Walmart, the other contained a $100 Visa card. Federal investigators made note of the gift cards’ serial numbers.
The addresses on the envelopes containing the gift cards were incomplete.
Under normal circumstances, postal workers and contracted mail delivery carriers are directed to return envelopes with incomplete addresses to the post office.
The envelope containing the $20 Walmart card wound up in Michelle Stevens’ batch of mail on July 14, 2020. Instead of returning the envelope, Michelle Stevens stole the test greeting card and Walmart gift card.
According to her plea agreement, Michelle Stevens spent that $20 Walmart gift card on July 15, 2020.
The envelope containing the $100 Visa card wound up in Joseph Stevens’ batch of mail on Sept. 11, 2020. Instead of returning the envelope with the incomplete address, Joseph Stevens admitted to keeping it and using the money on the card to pay his cell phone bill.
He stole ‘when he needed money'
According to his plea agreement, Joseph Stevens admitted he stole “when he needed money for food, gas and other items for his family.”
The Stevens admitted to stealing mail containing gift cards and money from 14 other victims, adding to about $458.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, the maximum sentence for the Class D felony of stealing mail is up to five years in federal prison and up to three years supervised release.
