US Postal Employee Drains $330,000 From Packages Sent by Elderly Victims, Faces 45-Count Indictment

A former U.S. Postal Inspector is facing 45 counts of fraud and other crimes for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from packages sent by the elderly, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In a new announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts says Scott Kelley, 51, of Pembroke, Massachusetts, allegedly stole over $330,000 in cash from mailed packages and laundered the cash and failed to report it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The DA alleges that Kelley spent the ill-gotten gains on a pool patio and lighting, a granite countertop for his outdoor bar, Caribbean cruise expenses and escorts. He is also alleged to have stolen $7,000 in cash from an evidence locker.

A grand jury indicted Kelley on 45 counts, including five counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, five counts of mail theft by a postal officer, one count of theft of government money, 23 counts of money laundering, one count of structuring to evade reporting requirements and five counts of filing false tax returns.

Kelley is alleged to have committed the crimes when employed as a Postal Inspector at the Boston Division headquarters, the Postal Service’s law enforcement arm.

The alleged scheme involved the Postal Service’s efforts to crack down on mail fraud scams originating in Jamaica that targeted US residents with false promises of sweepstakes or lottery winnings. The scammers contact elderly persons and con them into mailing funds to pay “fees” or “taxes” in order to collect their prize.

“Postal Inspectors working on the JOLT (Jamaican Operations Linked to Telemarketing) program were authorized to intercept packages suspected to have been sent by scam victims. However, they were authorized to open a package only with the sender’s consent, otherwise they were required to mail the package back to the sender….

According to the indictment, between January 2019 and August 11th, 2023, Kelley used deceptive emails to cause unwitting postal employees to intercept packages that a USPIS algorithm had flagged as likely having been mailed by JOLT scam victims and send them to him. In total, Kelley allegedly requested that approximately 1,950 packages be intercepted and mailed to him. It is alleged that Kelley opened intercepted parcels that looked or felt like they might contain cash, and that he stole any cash inside.”

The charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.