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A Lynn postal worker pleaded guilty this week to stealing residents’ mail and making more than $16,000 in debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals from the accounts of three Eastern Bank customers on her route.
Angela Gomez, 40, of Lynn, pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to one count of theft of mail by an employee, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office. She was arrested in November and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 2.
According to the U.S. attorney’s statement, postal inspectors were notified that U.S. Postal Service customers in Lynn had reported missing mail, including one person who reported that a Lilly Pulitzer gift card had never arrived in the mail.
An investigation showed that Gomez, a USPS city carrier assistant, had handled that customer’s route. Prosecutors said the expected gift card was used in January 2020 for purchases delivered to Gomez’s then-home address, and the corresponding email address belonged to Gomez. Subsequent surveillance of Gomez during the performance of her duties revealed that she looked through and stole mail on 21 separate occasions, according to the statement.
Agents were then contacted by an Eastern Bank fraud investigator, who was investigating multiple unauthorized ATM withdrawals and debit card purchases made using three separate Eastern Bank accounts owned by residents on the carrier route Gomez had been assigned to before the unauthorized transactions began, according to the statement.
Prosecutors said security camera video footage related to several of the unauthorized debit card purchases, including at Walmart and Target shopping centers, showed Gomez making unauthorized purchases using debit cards associated with the three Eastern Bank accounts. ATM and bank security camera videos from Eastern Bank showed Gomez making unauthorized cash withdrawals from the three bank accounts, according to the statement. The unauthorized debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals from the three Eastern Bank accounts totaled $16,587.
Gomez also stole four separate U.S. Treasury Economic Impact Payment checks totaling $4,800 intended for customers who lived on Gomez’s carrier route, according to the statement. Gomez stole a total of $21,387 in fraudulent debit card purchases, ATM withdrawals and stimulus checks, and the U.S. attorney’s office said she has agreed to pay restitution to the victims as part of the plea agreement.
