The Post Office is investigating a major case of theft of funds by one of its own employees. Passion Bennett was the clerk at the Express Mail Service - which is an international priority mail service offered by at the post office. A review of records shows that between January and May of this year, Bennett failed to account for, and is believed to have made off with a little over twenty thousand dollars in Express Mail receipts. How did she do it, and how did it go un-noticed. Well, according to James Gabourel who is holding over for the Postmaster General - Bennett was responsible to take all the monies she had received to the main cashier. But, according to him, she would "under-deposit" the amount she paid into the cashier. By doing this, an average of four thousand dollars a month was pinched from the Express Mail monies.
And while it seems simple enough - where were the checks and balances, to check the cash receipts against the receipts issued? Gabourel told us that, indeed, further checks should have been made by her supervisors - and the internal investigation, will also check to see if there was collusion.
But that investigation is seriously compromised because it seems Bennett got wind of it, and absconded. She is a Belizean-American who had been working at the post office for three years after she got transferred from the Housing Department.
The post office management detected the missing funds in mid-May, and the finance officer started checking the records on May 19th. The theft was confirmed on Wednesday, May 20th, but, by then, Bennett had already submitted her resignation - and didn't show up to work on Thursday the 21st.
A police report was made on the 22nd of May, but Bennett is believed to have left the country on that same day. Her husband is also a postman and he remains at work. Police say they are looking for Bennett but have been unable to find her.
Email
Print