Former Cross Lanes postal worker sentenced for stealing pills from the mail

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A former postal worker who stole oxycodone and hydrocodone pills mailed by the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans was sentenced today to five years of probation, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Brittany Harrison, 31, of Cross Lanes, previously pleaded guilty to theft of mail by a postal employee. She was also ordered to pay $124.34 in restitution, the value of the stolen pills. 

Harrison was a federal postal support employee who worked in the Charleston Main Post Office as a mail processing clerk. Through working at that post office, Harrison learned to identify packages mailed by the Department of Veterans Affairs that contained oxycodone and hydrocodone pills. After identifying these packages, Harrison opened them and stole the pain pills inside. On April 8, 2016, she opened a package from the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Huntington that was to be delivered to a Charleston veteran and stole oxycodone pills from the package. Harrison further admitted to stealing pills contained in at least six other packages, including 168 oxycodone pills on April 12, 2016, and another 168 oxycodone pills on April 13, 2016. On April 13, 2016, Harrison gave a statement to federal officers in which she admitted stealing the pain pills. Harrison is no longer an employee with the United States Postal Service.

The United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, and the United States Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation, assisted by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Assistant United States Attorney Erik S. Goes is in charge of the prosecution. United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence.

This case was prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District. 

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