A postal carrier in Culpeper was arrested on Tuesday on more than three dozen charges related to mail that local residents said never arrived.
Crystal Duvonne Dean, 55, of Culpeper, was the focus of a joint investigation of the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Postal Inspection Service that began last September.
Dean is being charged with 30 counts of felony mail larceny, seven counts of petit larceny, one count of felony credit card theft, and one count of felony use of a stolen gift card.
Per a release from the sheriff’s office, detectives identified Dean as a possible suspect early in the case and continued building on that information over the following months.
Investigators determined that gift cards and other items of value were being removed from mail along Dean’s delivery route, and that the opened envelopes were discarded afterward.
Detectives were able to secure evidence from her vehicle, used for rural deliveries, and from her residence after she was taken into custody.
The total number of victims is still being determined. Investigators believe it could exceed 100 people.
“Few jobs come with the level of access and trust that a mail carrier is given,” Culpeper County Sheriff Timothy Chilton said. “People in this county put birthday cards, graduation gifts, holiday cards, checks, and personal information in their mailbox every day because they trust it will reach the person it was meant for. That trust was broken here, and these important milestone gifts did not make it to their intended recipient.”
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Chris Graham
