IRS employee indicted for stealing mail

Latrice Antionette Murray, 38, of Kansas City, Mo., was charged in a five-count indictment that was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Sept. 8, 2009. That indictment was unsealed and made public upon Murray’s arrest Tuesday, September 15, and initial court appearance.

 

Murray is employed at the IRS facility at 333 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City, Mo., where her duties include mail processing.

 

As a batch of incoming mail is sorted for delivery to various individuals at the Pershing Road facility, some mail is identified as misdirected or misdelivered mail and is placed in a mail bucket so it can be returned to the Postal Service for delivery to the intended addressee. Based on reports that misdelivered mail was being opened rather than being returned to the Postal Service, a hidden video surveillance camera was installed in the administrative mail room. According to the indictment, the video taken by the hidden surveillance camera confirmed that Murray rifled through the misdelivered mail, opened it, and took contents from the mail.

 

The federal indictment charges Murray with five counts of stealing mail between February 9 and April 9, 2009.

 

Whitworth cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Porter. It was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.