Manager at Fall River Post Office pleads guilty to stealing mail he thought contained drugs

BOSTON – A U.S. Postal employee pleaded guilty today in connection with stealing mail believed to contain controlled substances.

Shawn M. Herron, 44, of Whitman, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and one count of theft of mail by a postal employee. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Feb. 17, 2022. Herron was indicted in August 2020.

Since September 2005, Herron has been employed with the Postal Service where he has served as Supervisor of Customer Service at the Canton Post Office and more recently as Manager of Customer Services at the Fall River Post Office.

Herron tracked packages he suspected of containing narcotics and, rather than dealing with them appropriately, opened them and stole the contents. Specifically, Herron profiled priority parcels from Puerto Rico and West Coast states as well as parcels flagged by law enforcement as potentially containing illegal narcotics and then removed them from the mail stream. Herron tracked the suspected parcels through Postal Service databases and monitored their arrival at the FPO. After their arrival Herron located the parcels and brought them to his personal office space, where he stole the narcotics for distribution.

The charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000. The charge of theft of mail provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Matthew M. Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General; and Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eugenia M. Carris, Deputy Chief of Mendell’s Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit, and Charles Dell-Anno, of Mendell’s Major Crimes Unit, are prosecuting the case.