A 33-year-old U.S. Postal Service employee was on “a two-year meth bender” when he stole more than 30,000 pieces of mail bound for residents throughout much of Portland, said his defense attorney Thursday, just before a judge sentenced the carrier to three years in prison.

John Paul Osburn grew up in eastern Oregon and had no criminal history when the Postal Service hired him in June 2013 as a back-up mail carrier who would fill in for other carriers when they were sick or on vacation. But within months, he and his girlfriend were stealing bundles full of birthday cards with cash inside, gift cards, credit cards, mail-order medications and DVDs to help fuel their drug habit, investigators say. Read more