Postal Worker Arrested For Stealing Netflix Envelopes

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a postal worker has been arrested for stealing Netflix envelopes.

A federal grand jury indicted an U.S. postal employee yesterday for stealing Netflix movies from the mail.

Randell Johnson, 52, of East Liberty, is charged with one count of theft of mail by a postal employee.

If convicted, he could be sentenced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney's office.

Comments

[Tom]

One down, countless others to go.

[eazyguy52]

Another episode in the complete stupidity of mankind.

[MCWHAMMER]

GOOD. Hope he gets the maximum sentence. Thankfully, I've never had a Netflix envelope stolen, but I have had weekly magazines get stolen before they arrived to my house. I reported the theft to Postmaster General online. No response, but the week after reporting, mail magically began to appear in my box again.

[Baff]

Netflix subscriptions are so cheap that it's just incredibly stupid that people would commit a felony stealing them.

[Prozac]

Some have posted here that the mailman has no reason to steal. Well here is more proof that some dummys just do stupid things.

[RMags]

Fine? yes. But Prison? no. Five years is overkill for stealing Netflix.

And now that I think about it 250,000 is a bit overkill too for a postal worker. Juuuuuust a little.

[BoB]

"The grand jury indictment returned Tuesday doesn't say if 52-year-old Randall Johnson was a mail carrier or worked elsewhere for the post office when the thefts allegedly occurred in November."

It does not say if he was, in fact, a "mailman" or some other form of contract labor. Almost all the reports to date have been about "contract labor" for the USPS and not USPS personnel. (Drivers, haulers, rural carrier, contract office, etc.)

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20080312_ap_pittsburghpostalemployeechargedwithstealingnetflixmovies.html

[Scott]

I'm sure he won't get the maximum mail-theft penalties for this, RMags, but we do put our trust in postal workers, and to maintain the integrity of the system, penalties probably should be somewhat severe. I would say maybe something like $5000 in fines, and yes, I could see jail time, maybe up to 30 days. Enough to remind other borderline USPS employees that they really don't want to risk stealing any mail, no matter how low in value.

[DavidM]

He got off light, in the UK stealing mail is considered a crime against the crown (aka treason), and you can potentially be hung for it.

[c4 Marvin]

hopefully this man will get what is coming to him, not only was he stealing from the postal service but also thier customers - jo public, it doesn't take much for people to loose faith in a service like the postal service and stories like this one don't help.

What people keep missing in news reports like this is that "stealing Netflix envelopes" isn't the so much the crime as is "stealing" is the crime. It's like people griping about some con getting life under the three strikes you're out program and the third crime is stealing a pizza. He's not going to prison for stealing a pizza, he's going for stealing. So yes, a Neflix envelope with a DVD is pretty minor, but it's still stealing.

[The Executioner]

Fry the bastard!

[Dave Zatz]

Maybe they'll also arrest the guy who intercepted my Sony Visa card, activated it, and has been enjoying free gas the last month. :/

[Guy]

Maybe those postal inspectors could take a look at my blog entry from couchapple.tv, linked here recently...
:-)

[Edward R Murrow]

The U.S. attorney's priorities are so out of whack - this guy potentially gets $250K fine, 5 years.

The crack smokers in the White House are still walking among us after the death and destruction that they've waged in Iraq which has also killed the U.S. economy.

[Tester]

"The crack smokers in the White House are still walking among us after the death and destruction that they've waged in Iraq which has also killed the U.S. economy."

I couldn't agree with you more on that ba$tard in the White House but it appears you are saying that because king george and his a$$wipe cronies are getting away with murder so should the a$$ who stole the discs. Using that argument we should let all people who committed murder get away with it because OJ Simpson got away with it.

[Perspective]

The point is perspective...

mega-billion$ cronyism, fateful lies, invasions, occupations, inflation, broken dollar, high crimes, treason, eviscerating bill of rights -- OK!

stealing small discs of cheap plastic -- FRY 'EM!

Something wrong here...