Crime & Courts

Former Ravn supervisor sentenced for stealing and selling mail destined for villages

A former Ravn Alaska supervisor will serve 12 months in prison for stealing and selling items sent through the mail, including computers that were intended for rural schools.

Congress Lepou, 30, and his co-worker, Breadoflife Faiupu, were accused of leading a mail theft conspiracy between 2015 and 2017 that involved stealing 60 Apple computers from air freight, along with more than $100,000 in phones and tobacco products meant to be flown to village retail stores, federal prosecutors said.

Lepou pleaded guilty last December to charges of conspiracy, mail theft, and possession of stolen mail. Faiupu was sentenced in February to serve six months in a halfway house.

Prosecutors say the two men recruited four of the employees they supervised to find buyers for the items in return for a share of the proceeds.

In addition to his one-year prison term, Lepou will also serve three years of supervised release and pay $199,143 in restitution, according to prosecutors.

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