Richard S. Hartunian, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, announced today that TRACEY RAPONI, age 42, of Martville, New York was sentenced today, September 12, 2012, in U.S. District Court in Syracuse, New York before the Hon. Norman A.Mordue, U.S. District Court Judge. RAPONI was sentenced to 18 months incarceration in connection with her plea of guilty to Fraud in Obtaining Federal Employees Compensation Benefits, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1920. RAPONI was also ordered to pay $326,467.88 in restitution. Following her term of incarceration RAPONI will be on a term of supervised release for three years. The court also imposed a $100 special assessment.

On April 30, 2012, TRACEY RAPONI, a former letter carrier with the U.S. Post Office in Fulton, N.Y., admitted to defrauding the U.S. Postal Service and U.S. Department of Labor of $326,467.88 by making false statements and representations to obtain federal workers’ compensation benefits. RAPONI admitted that she falsely represented that she was not employed, self-employed, or involved in a business enterprise during a period that she was collecting workers compensation benefits, when in truth she worked for Tuff-N-Uff Kennels, a dog breeding, boarding, and training business owned by her husband Gale Raponi.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.