Former Elgin Postmaster to Serve 37 Months in Prison For Embezzlement from Postal Service and Tax Fraud

Postal Fraud and Theft

Former Elgin Postmaster to Serve 37 Months in Prison For Embezzlement from Postal Service and Tax Fraud
Ordered to Pay $771,666.15 in Restitution to Postal Service and IRS

PRESS RELEASE
May 25, 2011 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Today, JAMES E. DRAHEIM, 63, from Elgin, Oklahoma, was sentenced by United States District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti to serve 37 months in federal prison for theft of public funds from the United States Postal Service and for filing a false tax return, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. In addition, Judge DeGiusti ordered Draheim to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term and pay restitution of $643,604.49 the Postal Service and $129,061.66 to the IRS.

Draheim was employed as the Postmaster in Elgin, Oklahoma, and from October 2005 through September 2009 used his position of trust to embezzle from the United States Postal Service. Specifically, Draheim took money paid by postal customers for bulk mailings, failed to credit the customer’s account for the full amount of the check, and then embezzled the difference by purchasing money orders in his own name which he then used for his own personal benefit. Draheim pled guilty on September 28, 2010, to theft of public funds and filing a false tax return for the 2008 tax year.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Criminal Investigative Division of the Internal Revenue Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vicki Zemp Behenna.

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