PITTSBURGH – A highway contract route driver has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of theft of mail, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
The one-count indictment, returned on Feb. 3, named April Kovach, 39, of Yatesboro, Pa.
According to the indictment, on or about Oct. 8, 2014, Kovach did abstract and remove two $20 Federal Reserve notes that had been the contents of a greeting card envelope addressed to an individual in Cranberry Township.
The law provides for a maximum total sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Shardul S. Desai is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The United States Postal Service – Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.
An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The USPS does not care who they contract with for Highway Mail Routes or who gets burned by those contractors. In Missouri Walton Transport, LLC a Highway Mail Contractor has left employees and small business burned in their wake. Their contract has been cancelled but not without cost to people who can not afford it. Small business has been left unpaid. This contractor was not paying their truck driver mail haulers posted contracted hourly wages or health and welfare. They were making questionable fuel deductions from employee paychecks. They did not pay for workman’s comp insurance nor did they pay unemployment taxes. They have left one employee a single mother with about $1000.00 in unpaid wages. Another employee with about 1 month of unpaid wages, medical bills for an injury on the job due to renting a truck that was not dock height, and waiting for unemployment because they never paid their taxes. This contractor had unsafe trucks that would not pass DOT inspections and employees were told to avoid scales. At times their trucks were not insured. Their trucks were constantly broke down, employees were asked to use their pickup trucks to haul bulk mail. They did not pay their bill for rental trucks, one employee received a phone call that the truck he was driving was being reported stolen and had to be turned in immediately. The contractor had failed to pay for the truck for a month and their credit card failed to clear numerous times. Their credit cards were frequently denied, truck supplies could not be purchased. One employee was forced to use drain oil in a truck that was burning oil and antifreeze. So the USPS has cancelled Walton Transport, LLC contract to haul mail in Missouri. In the meantime the USPS and the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division do not give a hoot that 2 Missouri employees have suffered losses they can not afford! Not to mention the scum that is contracted to haul our mail!
This keeps happening because they (USPS/Judges/Gov’t) won’t drop the hammer on these low lifes!! Just as everything else in the USPS, just let them slide, fire them….but what ever you do don’t put them behind bars for some time to think about how STUPID they were!! Stealing from the people who pay you?? Yep it’ll keep happening just mention they have a drug problem….brush it under the rug, no one is watching and thinking “If they can do it, I can too!”