3/28/17 URBANA — A U.S. postal employee who admitted he used a stranger’s credit card without her permission has been sentenced to 30 months of probation.

Matthew A. Eiland, 25, who listed an address in the 300 block of Kenwood Road, was also sentenced to two months of electronic home confinement after pleading guilty last week before Judge Heidi Ladd to identity theft over $2,000, a Class 2 felony.

Eiland admitted he used the credit card of a Champaign woman to buy two computers for $4,686 at Best Buy in Champaign on June 29.

Assistant State’s Attorney Matt Banach said the woman ordered a VISA card and had not received it in the mail. Checking her account online, she found the fraudulent purchases and reported them to police June 30.

Police obtained video from Best Buy that showed Eiland making the computer purchases and got the license number of the vehicle he arrived in to locate him.

Banach said Champaign police were unable to obtain a statement from Eiland as to how he got that card or seven others that were found in a court-authorized search of a residence associated with him.

source: Probation for postal worker who used stranger’s credit card