A Kansas postal worker was indicted on Tuesday for allegedly stealing thousands of pieces of mail, including political mailers.
Kelly R. Cram, 59, of Baxter Springs, is accused of stealing 4,404 pieces of mail in and around the Pittsburg area, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a Nov. 3 statement.
Agents from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Office of the Inspector General discovered the missing mail pieces at Cram’s residence on Oct. 7, according to the statement.
Among the mail were “approximately 394 political mailers—all related to Republican candidates or Republican Party-affiliated political action committees,” according to a Nov. 3 filing with the District Court, District of Kansas.
“The agents found no political mail related to candidates of any other political party or any political action committees affiliated with another political party at Cram’s residence,” the filing said.
Cram has been accused of violating Title 18 of U.S. Code Section 1,703(a), which is applicable when a person secretes, destroys, and delays mail. She faces imprisonment of up to five years, a term of supervised release of up to three years, and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Cram had been with the USPS since 2009 and was placed on administrative leave on Oct. 7.
The USPS watchdog is currently investigating the case, the DOJ said in its statement.
The Epoch Times was unable to reach Cram’s legal representative.
A former USPS postman was indicted for allegedly unlawfully throwing away mail that was to be delivered to various people. The discarded mail included roughly 300 mail-in ballots to registered voters in Utah, the DOJ said in a Sept. 22 statement.
The mail-in ballots were supposed to allow registered voters in Utah to vote in a June 23 primary election. The postman allegedly disposed of the mail in a dumpster at a church parking lot, the department said.
“When the defendant allegedly threw away the mail he was entrusted to deliver, he also threw away the chance for those citizens to exercise their right to vote,” U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah said in the statement.
“Our office, along with our law enforcement partners, takes these offenses seriously and will continue to investigate them to ensure justice is served for anyone whose constitutional right to vote has been infringed.”
More than 730 cases of internal mail theft were closed by the Office of Inspector General in the first six months of fiscal year 2026, the agency said.
The Trump administration sought to strengthen the security of mail ballots, with the USPS issuing a rule in August that required states to supply the postal service with lists of mail ballot recipients. The rule required all outbound and return ballot envelopes to have unique barcodes. The regulations allow USPS to refuse to deliver ballots that fail to comply with the new measures.
On Sept. 4, a U.S. district judge in Massachusetts issued an injunction blocking some of the rules from coming into effect. The Supreme Court refused to lift the injunction on Sept. 14, so the stringent USPS mail ballot regulations were not in effect during the midterms.
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