Ex-USPS Worker In NJ Sniffed Out Packages With Weed, Stole Them

He’d look for packages from California, Colorado or Arizona that contained marijuana. Then he’d rip off the would-be smugglers, slapping a label with a Paterson address on them to divert the shipment of weed.

And that’s how a former U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail handler from New Jersey stole about $32,000 worth of cannabis, federal prosecutors said.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (NJ) announced that Akeem Cauthen, 30, of Newark, a former mail handler who worked at the Northern New Jersey Metro Processing and Distribution Center in Teterboro, pleaded guilty to a single count of mail theft.

Prosecutors said that while employed at the Teterboro facility from May to November 2017, Cauthen would look for packages that came from California, Colorado or Arizona. When he found one, he would smell, open or poke holes in the packages to search for marijuana. If Cauthen found pot, he would steal the parcels by replacing the original mailing labels with labels containing addresses in Paterson, where he’d pick them up later.

Over six months, Cauthen managed to steal about $32,000 worth of marijuana, prosecutors said.

Cauthen pleaded guilty in Newark federal court to one count of theft of mail. He was released on a $40,000 unsecured bond.

The theft of mail charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 24, prosecutors said.

• See related article: US Marijuana Legalization Bill Would End 'War On Weed'

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