Feds charge postmasters around Bush

ALASKA NEWSPAPERS STAFF

September 25, 2008 at 9:59AM AKST

Postmasters from communities around rural Alaska have been charged with embezzling funds over several years totaling several thousand dollars.

The crimes, involving postal employees from Noatak, Selawik, New Stuyahok, Minto, Stebbins and Hooper Bay, occurred over a period of several years, dating back to 2003, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage.

The timing of the charges, filed earlier this month, had more to do with the way the judicial process works than any supposed connection of the postal employees.

“Sometimes it’s just easier for the prosecutors to bundle all these investigations up for court at one time,” said Dan Mihalko, a spokesman for the postal service’s Office of the Inspector General.  

The federal prosecutor filed the following charges:
•    Postmaster Melissa Mae Brown, 27, of Selawik, stole postal money for her own between November 2006 and September 2007.

•    Postmaster Annie Chunak, 42, of New Stuyahok, stole cash-on-delivery packages and postal funds between June 2003 and April 2008.

•    Postmaster Brenda Marie Jimmie, 46, of Minto, stole postal checks between October 2005 and December 2005.

•    Postal employee Edna Bailey, 22, a.k.a. Edna Ashby, of Noatak, stole two checks in March 2008.

•    Postmaster Laura Odinzoff, 44, of Stebbins, embezzled postal money between December 2006 and March 2007.

•    Postmaster Nancy Raymond, 41, of Stebbins, embezzled postal funds between December 2006 and March 2007.

•    Postmaster Edgar Ike Tall, 37, of Hooper Bay, stole postal funds in October 2004.

The U.S. Attorney’s office also charged: Kristine Mae Bennett, 28, of Nuiqsut, with mailing of intoxicants in December 2005; and Willis Walunga, 34, of Anchorage, and James Walunga, 29, of Gambell, with conspiracy. In October 2005, the Walunga brothers conspired with each other to mail intoxicating liquors to Gambell, the prosecutor said.

The charges against Bailey, Brown, Chunak, Jimmie, Odinzoff, and Raymond resulted from investigations conducted by special agents of the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. The charges against Bennett, Tall, and the Walungas were investigated by postal inspectors of the Postal Inspection Service.

All those charged are scheduled to be arraigned in court in the following weeks. A maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both is possible for felony misappropriation of postal funds. The maximum sentence for mailing intoxicating liquors is one year in prison, a fine of $100,000, or both.

Chunak of New Stuyahok is charged with the largest amount of embezzlement, more than $11,000, investigator Mihalko said. Brown of Selawik is charged with taking nearly $11,000, and Tall of Hooper Bay is charged with theft of about $7,000, Mihalko said. Others’ charges involved less money, so possible sentences would be up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Postmasters in Alaska’s rural communities are supervised from Anchorage, so the possibility for crimes to be committed out of sight is greater, Mihalko said. Probes into mishandled money involving rural post offices generally begin when financial irregularities start to show up in computer-based accounting, he said. In some of the Alaska cases, dollar amounts were easier to connect with an individual because only a postmaster was working in some communities, he said.

When record keeping is poor, it makes postal investigators’ jobs harder.

“We can show a shortage, but we can’t show an exact amount,” Mihalko said.

None of the charged workers are still employed by the postal service, he said. Replacements may be hard to find, but that doesn’t mean expectations should be any lower, he said.

“There’s an expectation in our country that when you put something in the mail, be it a precious keepsake, a check, nobody’s going to steal it,” Mihalko said. “This is the same for postal funds. Even though these aren’t million-dollar cases, it’s still involving postal money.”