No Charges for Suspected Mail Thief… Yet

No criminal charges have been filed yet against a U.S. Postal Service employee suspected of stealing mail on her Portland route. The Portland Beacon first reported on this story back in January after federal agents raided the employee’s former home in Sunfield. A large quantity of mail and other items were found in the raid, as well as evidence of burned mail. You can find that full article at https://www.theportlandbeacon.com/single-post/2019/01/16/Federal-Agents-Searched-Former-Home-of-Portland-Postal-Worker.

When asked for an update on this matter, Jeff Arney, Assistant Special Agent in Charge and Public Information Officer for the U.S. Postal Service - Office of Inspector General, told The Portland Beacon in an email response on March 19th that, “After speaking with the case agent, I have learned the US Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the case federally due to the loss not meeting their threshold for prosecution. With that declination, the agent is pursuing other prosecution opportunities on a local and/or state level. The information in this case was presented to a state prosecutor within the last week.”

Arney could not confirm the identity of the suspect due to pending criminal prosecution, but said “As far as the subject’s employment, the subject remains on Emergency Placement (i.e.- administrative leave) as any final discipline issued by postal management is still pending.”

WOOD TV 8 in Grand Rapids has identified the suspect as Cheryl Everitt, a 42 year old former Sunfield Township resident (https://www.woodtv.com/news/ionia-county/portland-mail-found-in-usps-worker-s-home/1710643979).

WILX in Lansing reported the Everitt started working for USPS in November 2015 and is suspected of stealing mail from her Portland route as far back as July 2017 (https://www.wilx.com/content/news/Postal-worker-accused-of-hoarding-mail-504505741.html).

The Michigan Attorney General’s office previously confirmed to The Beacon that their office was not involved in the initial raid of the Sunfield property, but as of March 21st, has not yet confirmed or denied if their office will be filing criminal charges in this case.

The Portland Beacon will continue to monitor this matter and will post updates as they come available.