NYC postal worker admits to stealing hundreds of thousands in cash, gifts from mail

A Midtown Manhattan postal worker is facing federal charges for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and cash sent through the mail in a practice she continued for years, officials said.

Darlene Washington, an employee at the U.S. Postal Service’s processing center on West 34th Street, was arrested Jan. 5.Her scheme was exposed after an inspector traced purchases on a missing Amazon gift card to her Jamaica, Queens, home.

Washington admitted to pocketing about $1,200 in cash, lottery tickets and gift cards every week for the past four years, the criminal complaint said.

The inspector also said that Washington stole a child’s letter to Santa because she liked the stickers that were affixed to the back of the envelope.

“Washington is still on the payroll, but is not interacting with the mail in any capacity,” the USPS told CBS2.

Last month, a postal employee in Brooklyn was arrested for using stolen gift cards to buy three sex toys from an online marketplacein September.

The USPS arrested nearly 500 employees for mail theft in 2015, CBS2 reported.