Tired of using the excuse that your grandma's birthday card didn't ever arrive because it was “lost in the mail?” Instead try this one: It was stolen by a postal worker.
That would have been a valid excuse coming from many victims of former US Postal Service mail sorter Eveline Panganiban Galermo. Today, she was sentenced to jail for pilfering from the post.
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Galermo started with the USPS in March of 2008, working at the Santa Ana Processing and Distribution Center. Between then and July 2008, she stole mail–feeling the envelopes to find out what was inside them, stuffing them under her shirt to open later. Her favorite target? Colored, greeting-card-size envelopes.
She ended up lifting a few pre-paid calling cards, gift certificates and cash. According to the District Attorney's office, she only redeemed them to purchase two items at Target. The USPS started investigating once it started getting numerous complaints from residents who said the stuff they expected in the mail hadn't arrived (If you ever think you're a target of mail fraud, fill out this handy form).
According to the office of the Inspector General for the USPS, there were 5,501 completed investigations of mail-related crime in 2009, resulting in 865 convictions. We can add one to that tally for 2010: Galermo was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of probation. Maybe someone will send her a hope-you're-doing-okay card from the outside.
