Nov 26, 2009 12:41 pm US/Eastern
Gift Cards Stolen From Mail Paid For Holiday Feast
NEWARK (CBS) ―
Prosecutors said a mail carrier stole two gift cards sent to a New Jersey man and used them to buy items for her Thanksgiving feast.
Raquel Miller was arrested Monday at the Irvington Post Office and charged with theft, official misconduct and receiving stolen property. A search of her East Orange home uncovered other stolen gift cards and debit cards, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutors office.
The incident marks the fourth time this year that a postal service employee in the county has been charged with a similar type offense, he said.
The investigation by county authorities and the U.S. Postal Service began earlier this month after James Raynor, 43, of Fayettville, N.C., called the company that issued the two gift cards — worth a combined $150 — and asked why they had not yet been delivered to his nephew in Irvington.
A company representative told Raynor someone had cashed the cards at a supermarket in East Orange. Store surveillance video showed Miller — while in uniform — using them to buy cranberry sauce, gravy and other items, Loriquet said.
Raynor, who directs molecular genetics research at Fayetteville State University, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that his cousin needed the money for a bus card and other personal items.
"(I was) disturbed to learn that someone, especially a postal employee, would take something that didn't belong to them," Raynor told the newspaper. "It's very unfortunate if she needed the money to buy a Thanksgiving meal. But what she did is still wrong."
A phone number listed in Miller's name rang unanswered Thursday, and it was unclear whether she had an attorney. If convicted, she could face up to 5 years in prison.
The Irvington Post Office is located at 1086 Springfield Ave.,
Irvington,
N.J.
07111.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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