FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
PAMELA ANN KLINE PLEADS GUILTY AND SENTENCED IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings on August 20, 2008, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn S. Ostby, PAMELA ANN KLINE, a 39-year-old resident of Billings, pled guilty and was sentenced on the charge of obstruction of mails.
KLINE was sentenced to a term of:
- Probation: 6 months (unsupervised)
- Special Assessment: $10
- Fine: $300
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
KLINE was awarded Highway Contract Route (HCR) 59135 on October 29, 2005. On December 26, 2007, a supervisor with USPS Customer Service in Billings received a complaint from a customer on KLINE'S route. The customer reported a possible mail theft by KLINE. The caller reported that two Christmas cards were sent from her mother-in-law in Grand Rapids, Michigan to her address: one card addressed to the caller and her husband and the second card addressed to her son. Her son's Christmas card arrived but the other did not. The card that did not arrive contained a Lowe's gift card valued at $100.
Lowe's loss prevention in Michigan was able to track the gift card and determined it had been used in Billings to purchase a power washer. Lowe's was able to track the purchase and obtain the footage from the security cameras at Lowe's for the register where the gift card was used. The footage shows KLINE purchasing a power washer with the gift card.
KLINE was interviewed by law enforcement. KLINE admitted to taking the gift card and using it to purchase a power washer. KLINE returned the power washer and forwarded a gift card for $100 to the victim. KLINE'S contract with the USPS was terminated following the results of law enforcement's investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica T. Fehr prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Office of Inspector General for the United States Postal Service.
# # # #
A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
