Hartford Postal Supervisor Pleads Guilty To Stealing Mail: Feds

HARTFORD/NEW HAVEN, CT — A former U.S. Postal Service supervisor who worked at a Hartford facility has pleaded guilty to stealing cash and gift cards from customers' mail.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, and Matthew Modafferi, special agent in charge of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, said Debra Watson, 64, of Chicopee, Mass., pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to obstruction of mail.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Watson was employed as a supervisor at the U.S. Postal Service’s processing and distribution center in Hartford.

From December 2021 through July 2022, Watson took envelopes from the mail stream, removed cash and gift cards, resealed the envelopes, and returned them to the mail stream at another location, Avery said.

When confronted by law enforcement on July 15, 2022, Watson had 53 pieces of mail in her possession and a $500 gift card that was taken from the mail, according to Avery.

Meyer scheduled sentencing for Jan. 21, 2025. Watson, Avery said, faces up to six months in prison.

The U.S. Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General has investigated this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Dearington is prosecuting the case.

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