A collector who sent cards he sold to another person in Kansas City last summer wondered why his packages—complete with tracking—turned up missing last summer. Federal prosecutors say it was because a mailman opted to steal them.
In federal court Thursday, that former US Postal Service employee pleaded guilty to federal information charging him with mail theft. Paul O. Robinson, 26, of Richmond, MO, is charged with stealing numerous cards worth about $40,000 during a three month spree.
Robinson admitted that he stole 94 cards and other items from the mail from April to June 2021 instead of delivering them to customers.
Robinson worked for the U.S. Postal Service from 2018 to 2021. In June of last year a customer filed a report indicating he had had mailed a Kevin Durant card valued at $1,925 to a customer but the card never arrived. The customer also provided the tracking and serial numbers for additional cards that were never delivered.
Special agents from the USPS Office of Inspector General found four of the missing sports cards at a hobby shop in nearby Gladstone, MO. Surveillance video from the store showed Robinson, in his postal uniform, presenting the cards for sale on June 12, 2021.
The person who was supposed to receive the package containing the Durant card then identified Robinson as his mail carries.
When federal agents interviewed Robinson, they say he admitted not only to stealing the cards, but taking mail home in his car and even destroying some of it. Agents searched Robinson’s residence and found approximately 440 pieces of mail that were supposed to have been delivered including one additional trading card.
In August 2021, 11 more cards were recovered from a sports card shop in Liberty, MO. Another card was also recovered from the store in Gladstone.
Under federal statutes, Robinson is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
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