Ex-letter carrier gets probation for stealing gift cards on postal route

TAMPA -- A former U.S. Postal Service letter carrier was sentenced today to a year's probation for stealing gift cards from residents' mail along his St. Petersburg route.

Elminio Dion Thomas, 42, was also fined $500, the approximate value of the gift cards that Thomas pleaded guilty to stealing. Prosecutors said he had already paid restitution.

"I would just like to apologize for my mislapse," Thomas told U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas B. McCoun III, who sentenced him for the misdemeanor offense of opening mail without authority.

"This is a pretty stupid error on your part to think that one, you could do this, and two, you could get away with it," McCoun told Thomas.

According to court records, Thomas opened about 10 pieces of mail on his route between September 2007 and January. A 13-year veteran with the U.S. Postal Service, he was assigned as a letter carrier to the post office on Fourth Street N in St. Petersburg.

Thomas used the gift cards on purchases at Wal-Mart, Target and Sam's Club stores in Tampa and Brandon. Court records show that during a trip to Sam's Club to use one of the stolen cards, Thomas was captured on surveillance video showing his identification card. He was also wearing his postal service uniform in the video, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"It's beyond me why people would jeopardize a good career for such minor gain," the judge said.

Kevin Graham, Times Staff Writer

*