Anchorage Daily News

Seven postal officials from Bush communities across the state have been charged in federal court with pilfering tens of thousands of dollars in cash and checks from their employer while on the job, the U.S. attorney said Monday.

Prosecutors and postal investigators said the cases were not related by anything other than timing and that crimes the workers are accused of included stealing cash, checks, cash-on-delivery packages and other property.

Investigators caught wind of the schemes that, in some cases, spanned years by conducting audits and inspections that revealed "basically misfeasance by postal employees in rural communities," acting U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler said. "(The cases) are mainly sort of embezzlement of monies that are under their control."

While the charges were all filed the same week, some of the cases have actually been under review for some time, she said. The U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General investigated all but one of them.

"Our office, the IG's office, opened up in Alaska about two years ago," said assistant special agent in charge John Masters, Western-area spokesman for the OIG. "What you're starting to see is a culmination of the work of the agents in Alaska, and you'll be seeing more of these types of cases here soon."

The charges of misappropriating postal funds, filed last Tuesday and Thursday, vary in severity from felony to misdemeanor, depending on the amount stolen, Loeffler said.

Those charged with felonies include New Stuyahok postmaster Annie Chunak, 42, who is accused of taking $11,368 in postal money and cash-on-delivery payments between June 2003 and April this year, and Selawik postmaster Melissa Mae Brown, 27, who is charged with pocketing $10,909 in postal funds she failed to properly report between November 2006 and September 2007.

Also charged with a felony is Hooper Bay officer in charge Edgar Ike Tall, 37, who, court records say, stole $7,215 in postal money over a two-day period in October 2004. Stebbins postmaster Laura Odinzoff, 44, is charged with a felony as well and accused of taking an unspecified amount of more than $1,000 between December 2006 and March 2007, according to charging documents.

If convicted, those defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, Loeffler said.

Three others face misdemeanor charges for allegedly stealing less than $1,000 in checks and cash. They are Minto postmaster Brenda Marie Jimmie, 46; Stebbins relief postmaster Nancy Raymond, 41; and Noatak postal employee Edna Bailey, 22. The misdemeanor charges can bring a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, Loeffler said.

Efforts to reach the defendants were unsuccessful with the exception of Tall. He declined to comment.

The Postal Inspection Service investigated Tall's case, the only one not handled by the OIG. It was unclear if he was still employed by the post office. Masters, who called the timing and number of cases an "anomaly," said all of the defendants investigated by his office had either resigned or been fired.

"We're trying to make a statement here," Masters said. "This type of activity or behavior by postal employees, while very, very rare, is not going to be tolerated and it will be actively investigated."

Also announced Monday were charges against three other non-post office employees accused of shipping alcohol through the mail. Kristine Mae Bennett, 28, of Nuiqsut was charged with mailing intoxicants in December 2005.

Anchorage resident Willis Walunga, 34, and his brother James Walunga, 29, of Gambell were charged with conspiracy after allegedly plotting to mail alcohol from Anchorage to Gambell in October 2005.

Mailing liquor carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

ADVERTISEMENT