Rural carrier charged with stealing mail, identities; Postal Service calls such charges 'very rare'

A rural mail carrier in northern Ohio, already in jail on a drug charge, has been indicted on five counts of identity theft, four counts of false credit-card applications, one count of theft of mail and one count of aggravated identity theft. Marsha Billock-Strahm is charged with "stealing some of the mail she was entrusted to deliver and fraudulently opening credit cards in the names of some of those on her rural route," writes Erica Blake of The Toldeo Blade.

A postal inspector told Blake that cases such as the recent criminal charges are "very rare within the postal service." Billock-Strahm served the town of Carey, population 3,900. "Mayor John Rymer said that in a small town, it's difficult not to be disappointed and feel betrayed by a longtime member of the community. A town of about 3,900 people, Carey is in Wyandot County and is about 65 miles south of Toledo. ... But being a tight-knit Christian town, the residents of Carey likely will forgive their former letter-carrier if the allegations are proved to be true, he said." (Read more)