Postal Service Employee Admits Stealing Cell Phones from Mail

NEWARK, N.J. - A Hudson County, New Jersey, man today admitted stealing dozens of cell phones from mail that passed through a postal distribution center where he was employed, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Kyle Terry, 36, of Jersey City, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an information charging him with one count of theft of mail by a postal employee.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Terry was employed by the U.S. Postal Service as a mail handle assistant at a national postal distribution center in Jersey City. From Nov. 1, 2017, to Jan. 28, 2018, Terry stole 39 cell phones having a total approximate value of $35,000 from mail that passed through that distribution center.

The theft of mail by a postal employee charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17, 2022.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modafferi, with the investigation leading to today's guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz of the U.S. Attorney's Office's Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.