Maryland Woman Pleads Guilty to Counterfeiting $250,000 In Metered Postage
U.S. Postal Service loses at least $251,011.90 in scheme
US DOJ, U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland - Julie Hoffman, age 32, of Lonaconing, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to counterfeiting metered postage, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to the statement of facts presented to the court, Hoffman owns and operates Hoffman Candles and Hoffman Mailing Solutions in Lonaconing, Maryland, mailing about 1000 envelopes and packages daily for several individual customers and businesses. Hoffman advertised that she could mail any item from Hoffman Candles to anywhere in the country, regardless of the weight or size of the item, for 20 cents.
In 2003, Hoffman began to counterfeit metered U.S. postage by printing a legitimate set of postage from Stamps.com and Endicia.com, and then making copies of this postage on her own adhesive backed labels. Hoffman provided her employees with this counterfeit postage to use in mailing packages and letters, but did not tell them that the postage was counterfeit. Within a couple years, she was counterfeiting almost all of the postage in her business. As a result of the scheme, the Postal Service lost at least $251,011.90.
Hoffman faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis has scheduled sentencing for April 6 , 2007 at noon.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the United States Postal Inspection Service. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kwame J. Manley, who is prosecuting the case.
January 13th, 2007 at 10:49 am
I guess she had the ’solution!’
January 13th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Hah! So she got caught doing wholesale what numerous individuals and companies have been doing retail for years. Thousands, if not millions, of customers have been doing the same thing. What a stupid idea it was in the first place.
January 14th, 2007 at 9:16 am
The system would only be somewhat secure if there was a unique serial number issued to each online meter mark and a means for the USPS to scan each online meter mark to see if that unique serial number has been used before.
Until that type of technology is deployed and in use, the idea of printing your own online postage is premature. Unless of course you are deliberately trying to give away the USPS (sink the ship).
It is often very difficult to determine whether many of the decisions that USPS management makes are because they are really just very stupid, totally ignorant or completely incompetent, or if they are being intentionally malicious.
Thank God the USPS is a quasi-government institution with monopoly rights as it is run by a management team that would quickly bankrupt even the most profitable corporation on the planet.
January 16th, 2007 at 11:12 am
What an idiot. She should have advertised free postage on orders of 10 dollars. Plus not giving her employees any deals. Heck, she would still be doing it!
January 16th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
How do we know that postage is not being reused when purchased from the APC? People can buy postage from the APC to be used at a later date and then all the recipient has to do is remove the postage and reuse it on another letter. I just don’t get it…how could such a systme be put into place with no security measures? It is beyond me…:(
May 21st, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Does anyone know where she is suppose to be doing her time?