Ex-postal worker gets house arrest, probation in mail theft

Sue Harris worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 15 years before leaving in 2005 while under investigation for missing mail.

When she left, she took two master keys that letter carriers use to empty mail collection boxes.

Then in May a citizen reported seeing someone drive up to a collection box in Apollo Beach and empty the contents. The person wasn't wearing a postal worker's uniform.

A week later, someone saw the same thing at the same collection box.

Meanwhile, Shanicka and Ricky Triplett were having trouble with the mail. The cash they sent to their disabled mothers had not arrived.

Shanicka Triplett's mother, who has multiple sclerosis, couldn't pay her bills. Her utilities might have been turned off if her family hadn't scrambled to help.

After an investigation, postal inspectors identified Harris as the thief. They searched her home in July and found envelopes and letters stolen from the Apollo Beach box and another collection box.

Harris, 54, of Riverview, told an investigator she used the keys when she ran into financial trouble. She estimated she emptied the Apollo Beach box 10 times.

Harris pleaded guilty to mail theft in October.

Today, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara sentenced her to five years of probation, with six months of house arrest.

In using collection boxes, Lazzara said, the public has "a sense of security. ...You put your trust in the postal employees. In this case, there's no question that Ms. Harris violated that trust even though she is no longer a postal employee."

He said the postal service should have taken an inventory of Harris' belongings when she left her job. Someone "should have demanded the return of the keys."

Shanicka Triplett told the judge she knows sending cash in the mail may not be the safest thing. But it made it easier for her mother, who can't get around.

Public defender Mary Mills said Harris is remorseful and eager to pay restitution.

Asked by Lazzara whether she had anything to say, Harris first said, "No sir."

"Nothing?" the judge said, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm so embarrassed and ashamed," Harris said.

"Why did you do it?"

"We were just getting further behind."

Lazzara also ordered Harris to pay $1,180 in restitution, saying he would consider ending her probation after three years if she pays all the money.