DECATUR, Ga. — An inside job. The U.S. Postal Service Inspector General confirms that many of the incidents of mail check theft are being committed by postal employees.
It has happened twice to Decatur pediatrician Carol Herrmann in just six months at the downtown Decatur Post office.
“I feel there’s no sense of urgency in resolving this matter. I believe it’s just ho-hum, another day, this happens, and they move on,” Herrmann told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.
Herrmann met fellow Decatur business owner Narit McCrary at the bank. Both were there for the same reason. Both had checks stolen from the same post office.
“On the picture of the check, it’s not my handwriting. They leave only my signature, that’s it,” McCrary said.
The crooks wash the checks, changing names and increasing the dollar amounts.
On McCrary’s check, they even added a note that it was for the walk-in cooler. That’s true. It shows the crook looked at what else was in the envelope.
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“I feel like nobody cares. It’s not their business. It’s not their problem,” McCrary said.
Channel 2 Action News Investigates has been looking into check mail fraud for three years now.
Earlier this week, we showed you a Gwinnett couple who were victims.
The U.S. Postal Service Inspector General acknowledges many of these mail theft cases are inside jobs, telling Channel 2 Action News in a statement:
“We continue to focus on postal employees who steal from the mail, with a growing emphasis on external criminal organizations that target, recruit, and collude with them to steal valuable items like checks and credit cards.”
Data from the Inspector General shows just in the six months between October 2024 and March 2025, the IG closed 872 mail theft investigations and arrested 254 people in relation to those crimes.
Pictures taken by IG investigators inside the Atlanta sorting facility last fall show employees were allowed to keep personal items nearby while they sorted mail.
Photos taken after an investigation in Wisconsin show how an employee there loaded a backpack with greeting cards and gift cards.
For Herrmann and McCrary, it’s been a big headache: lots of time and effort to get their money back and set up new business bank accounts.
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