A former US postal investigator, who once led the fraud department, has been accused of embezzling over $330,000 from packages sent by victims and allegedly using the funds for personal luxuries such as home improvements, vacations, and hiring escorts, as stated by the Justice Department.
Scott Kelley, age 51, from Massachusetts, faces a 45-count indictment filed by a Boston grand jury, which includes charges such as wire fraud, mail fraud, mail theft by a postal officer, theft of public funds, money laundering, structuring to avoid reporting requirements, and submitting false tax returns.
Kelley, who allegedly misappropriated money from packages, is accused of laundering the funds and spending $15,400 on escort services, sometimes even during his workdays; allocating $30,188 for a patio and lighting upgrades for his swimming pool; installing a granite countertop for his outdoor bar; and using $4,300 to enjoy a Caribbean cruise.
The US Postal Inspection Service serves as the law enforcement division of the Postal Service, and from 2015 up until June 2022, Kelley served as the team leader for its Mail Fraud Unit, a role tasked with probing scams against individuals he is now accused of exploiting.
He also worked as team leader of the Mail Theft Unit from June 2022 until August 2023.
Between 2019 and 2023, Kelley allegedly issued fraudulent emails to unsuspecting postal workers, instructing them to seize packages that were identified as sent from victims of a Jamaican scam targeting Americans.
The scammers claimed the victims needed to send money to get lottery or sweepstakes winnings.
Kelley told the postal workers to send the packages to him.
Postal employees had the authority to intercept packages suspected of being sent by scam victims but were not permitted to open them without the sender’s consent.
If it was opened, the postal worker was required to count the cash with another worker present and mail the sender a check for that amount.
Kelley is believed to have requested 1,950 packages be sent to him, stealing the cash inside, the DOJ said.
Seven alleged victims with an average age of 75 are identified in the indictment.
The oldest alleged victim was 82.
The victims mailed between $1,400 and $19,100 each to the scammers.
Kelley allegedly met with one of the victims, falsely telling that victim that a package wasn’t found and “that their loss was their own fault because they had mailed cash. None of the victims recovered their packages or their cash,” the DOJ said.
He is also accused of using the key of another postal inspector, who was a direct report to him, stealing $7,000 from an evidence locker and blaming the employee for the theft.
Kelley laundered the nearly $340,000 in cash by buying postal money orders and hiding the fact that he was the purchaser and payee, and spreading out more than 60 bank deposits through four bank accounts at two banks, the DOJ said.
He faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud, money laundering and mail fraud charge, five years for each mail theft and structuring to evade reporting requirements charge, 10 years for theft of government money and three years for each filing false tax returns charge if found guilty.
