Former U.S. Postal Service employee sentenced for embezzlement

BOSTON – A former postal employee was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Boston for embezzling over $22,000 from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

Dennis Reis, 37, of Taunton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to two years of probation, with the first six months to be served in home confinement, and ordered to pay restitution of $22,773. In January 2018, Reis pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and theft of public money, property or records.

Reis started working for the USPS in approximately 2000, and in 2014, became the Lead Sales & Service Associate at the East Taunton Post Office. In that capacity, Reis sold stamps to customers and maintained accountability for the funds and stamp stock. From January 2015 to March 2017, Reis engaged in a scheme to embezzle funds by voiding cash transaction sales of stamps so that the system did not account for the cash paid by customers. Reis then entered a “no sale” transaction into the system, causing the cash drawer to open and taking the cash paid by customers for his own use. Through this scheme, Reis embezzled at least $22,773 from the USPS.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Eileen Neff, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Office, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia M. Carris of Lelling’s Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted the case.