Waltham Mail Carrier Steals From Deliverees, Receives Light Sentence

WALTHAM — A former mail carrier who plied a route in Waltham has been sentenced after admitting to stealing prescription drugs and other deliveries from customers along his stops.

Michael Vernon, 53, of Waltham, was sentenced Thursday in Boston federal court to time served, one day, followed by one year of supervised release, according to a statement. He was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. Vernon pleaded guilty in December 2025 to theft of mail by a postal employee.

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The sentence was far lighter than the maximum.

He could have received penalties including as much as five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Investigators found more than 1,000 pieces of undelivered mail and 17 prescription pill bottles in Vernon's personal vehicle on Jan. 31, 2024, according to prosecutors. The medications belonged to 10 postal customers on his route, many of them elderly residents.

From around June 2022 through January 2024, Vernon used his official position to rifle through the contents of mail entrusted to him, the prosecutors said.

The stolen prescriptions included medications used to treat conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, nerve pain and enlarged prostate.

Vernon was arrested and charged in September 2025.

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