Postal Contract Driver Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement
According to Southwest Times Record
Carolyn J. Covey, aka Carolyn Sumpter, 38, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Muskogee, Okla., to embezzlement of [$13,172.93]government funds. The offense is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000.
According to a news release, the charges arose from an investigation by the U.S. Postal Service in connection with incidents that occurred between March 2005 and January 2007.
“Covey, a highway contract route driver, admitted purchasing fuel with her government-issued credit card that she had already been paid for as part of her contract with the postal service.
She admitted to using the card to pay for fuel for her personal vehicle. Additionally, she admitted to falsifying the fuel purchase form filed with the postal service,” U.S. Attorney Sheldon J. Sperling stated in the release.
September 1st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
If this is her first offense she’ll probably get probation, I am assuming she’ll lose her contract or am I jumping to conclusions? Since the PO is dead set on expanding the HCR program I expect a lot more of this, so the PO is going to have to spend a lot more on audits. Then they’ll have to spend even more time which equals money on prosecutions. Where’s the savings?
September 5th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
I don’t know the facts of this case, but it sounds like this is much ado about nothing. HCR contractors are permitted to use their Voyager card for non-postal fuel. That’s right — it is allowed, because they are generally allowed to use their personal vehicles for box delivery purposes. If the contractor should use more than its fuel allotment, the Postal Service simply withholds the overage from them. Very easy and no need to do any special audits — Voyager knows exactly how much fuel was used. Once the contractor goes over that amount, they get backcharged — very simple.
The contractor was probably scared by the Inspectors and would have admitted to anything. In fact, she probably didn’t do anything wrong. A sad case, based on everyone misunderstanding what these contracts really require.