Houston carrier caught with 10k pieces of stolen mail among hundreds at USPS busted for theft

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- When Jimmie Blackstone signed up with a new internet provider, he said he was offered a $100 Visa gift card as a bonus.

After it didn't show up, he said he contacted the company, who told him it was used at a nearby restaurant that he's never been to.

Blackstone said he doesn't know for certain who stole his gift card, but he said since his mail sometimes arrives from the U.S. Postal Service already opened and at odd times, he suspects it could have been one of their workers.

"I absolutely think it was an internal job at the postal service because ... after checking our mailbox twice a day, we were getting extra mail in the middle of the night, so I thought that was very odd," Blackstone said. "After I filed the complaint, shortly after that, we stopped getting mail in the middle of the night."

All year,13 Investigates has asked USPS for interviews about viewer concerns about internal mail theft and what the government agency is doing to ensure your mail is safe.

Now the 13 Investigates team is learning that since the start of last year, hundreds of USPS employees nationwide have been arrested for mail theft.

Just how much stolen mail were local carriers caught with in their homes and cars? 13 Investigates at 10 p.m. tonight on ABC13.

For updates on this story, follow Kevin Ozebek on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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