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Surveillance Effort By Postal Service Helps Catch Mail Carrier Red Handed

DENVER (CBS4) - A mail carrier who worked out of a post office in Golden was sentenced for stealing mail from his customers this week.

John Bonney will spend two years on probation for taking gift cards and using them himself.

Bonney admitted to investigators that he would look through mail he collected from mailboxes for anything that looked like a greeting card. In some cases he'd find gift cards and cash inside.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Bonney worked as a mail carrier for 15 years before he was caught last year.

An investigation was opened in June 2013 when a woman dropped several pieces of mail in a mailbox at a Golden grocery store, including one with a Home Depot gift card inside.

When the gift card never made it to her mother, she called investigators.

"Our agents went to the Home Depot where the gift card was redeemed. They reviewed the in-store video surveillance and determined the person who redeemed the gift card was wearing a postal service uniform," USPS spokesperson John Masters told CBS4.

Bonney was identified as the man in the video.

Hidden cameras were placed inside Bonney's mail truck to see what he might do next.

"They conducted surveillance and during the course of that investigation they determined that Bonney was in fact stealing mail," Masters said.

Bonney eventually admitted to stealing between 75 and 100 pieces of mail. He estimated the value of gift cards and cash he collected was between $600 to $900.

U.S. Postal Service Mail Truck Mail Delivery
(credit: CBS)

The U.S. Postal Service employs more than 500,000 people nationwide. There were 300 postal employees arrested for mail theft in 2013.

"We take them very seriously and we investigate them immediately and we hold people accountable, as was the case today in the sentencing of Mr. Bonney," Masters said.

A CBS4 crew who knocked on Bonney's door on Thursday to see if he had any comment didn't get any response.

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