BRUNSWICK | A Ludowici rural mail carrier pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of stealing a parcel that contained prescription drugs mailed to a veteran.

Tasha Marie Keithley, 35, entered her plea before Chief U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood under an agreement in which the government agrees to dismiss three other identical charges of theft of mail by postal employee.

James P. Podolok, a special agent with the U.S. Postal Service, testified in the change of plea hearing that he began an investigation after the officer in charge of the Ludowici post office said there had been patron complaints of missing mail.

“Their Veterans Administration parcels had not arrived containing medications,’’ said Podolok, who works out of Jacksonville.

When the addresses were checked, all were on Keithley’s delivery route so she was called in for questioning, Podolok testified.

Keithley cooperated and “admitted she was addicted and using hydrocodone,’’ and admitted she had taken the mail, he testified.

The painkiller hydrocodone was the contents of a parcel that was missing in May 2013 and three others missing in June 2013, Podolok testified.

In searching Keithley’s vehicles and purse, he found an empty bill bottle that had contained medication that had been mailed to a veteran, Podolok testified.

Mail carrier pleads guilty to taking parcel containing veteran’s drugs