An IRS employee has been indicted by a federal grand jury for stealing mail that had been delivered to an IRS service facility.
Latrice Antionette Murray, 38, was charged in a five-count indictment on Sept. 8 that was unsealed and made public when Murray was arrested Tuesday morning and made her initial court appearance. Murrays duties at the IRS facility in Kansas City, Mo., included mail processing. When a batch of incoming mail is sorted for delivery at the facility, any of the mail that has been identified as misdirected or misdelivered is placed in a mail bucket so it can be returned to the post office for delivery to the intended addressee.
Based on reports that misdelivered mail was being opened rather than being returned to the Postal Service, a hidden video surveillance camera was installed in the administrative mail room. According to the indictment, the surveillance video showed Murray rifling through the misdelivered mail, opening some of it, and removing the contents. The indictment charges Murray with five counts of stealing mail between Feb. 9 and April 9, 2009.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Porter and was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
