{"id":40254,"date":"2026-09-24T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=40254"},"modified":"2026-09-24T11:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T16:00:08","slug":"kansas-usps-employee-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-gift-cards-from-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2026\/09\/24\/kansas-usps-employee-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-gift-cards-from-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas USPS employee pleads guilty to stealing gift cards from mail"},"content":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, KAN. \u2013 9\/23\/26 – A U.S. Postal employee pleaded guilty to stealing mail addressed to postal customers.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, David Alan Boutte, 60, of Olathe pleaded guilty to one count of theft or receipt of stolen mail.<\/p>\n

Boutte is an employee of the Blue Valley Post Office in Overland Park. In January 2026, the U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG) received a tip from a witness who saw Boutte dispose of brightly colored envelopes which appeared to be for greeting cards into the trash bin outside his home. The witness looked in Boutte\u2019s trash and found four postmarked letters that were opened and not addressed to Boutte\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

Twice in February 2026, USPS-OIG and the Olathe Police Department collected trash from the curb outside Boutte\u2019s home. Both times law enforcement found multiple opened, stamped letters not addressed to the residence.<\/p>\n

In March, as officers executed search warrants at Boutte\u2019s home and at the post office, they found among his belongings $1,624 in cash, 141 gift cards, letters addressed to other people, and approximately 1,700 stamps on rolls and sheets. They also found a USPS arrow key (a master key mail carriers use to open outdoor collection boxes, cluster box units, apartment mailbox panels) and a USPS facility key.<\/p>\n

\u201cA neighbor reporting suspicious behavior sparked an investigation which led to an arrest and now a guilty plea by the defendant,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. \u201cLaw enforcement officers appreciate tips from the public. Whether they call a tipline or send an email, we encourage people to come forward with information about possible criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guilty plea represents the hard work and dedication by USPS OIG Special Agents working with the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office to bring charges on this mail theft investigation,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Dennus Bishop, U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Central Area Field Office. “The OIG, along with our law enforcement partners, remain committed to safeguarding the U.S. Mail and ensuring the accountability and integrity of U.S. Postal Service employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boutte is scheduled to be sentenced on January 15, 2027. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Postal Service \u2013 Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG) and Olathe Police Department investigated the case.<\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Fadler is prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, KAN. \u2013 9\/23\/26 – A U.S. Postal employee pleaded guilty to stealing mail addressed to postal customers. According to court documents, David Alan Boutte, 60, of Olathe pleaded guilty to one count of theft or receipt of stolen mail. Boutte is an employee of the Blue Valley Post Office in Overland Park. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,72,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-theftandfraud","category-postal-crime","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40255,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40254\/revisions\/40255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}