PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. — A United States Postal Service (USPS) Employee has been charged with theft of government property.
According to court documents, Jeffrey Zgorzelski was embezzling money through voided stamp purchases to the amount of over $60,000.
Zgorzelski had been employed by the USPS since 1993 and was the Postmaster at Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin Post Office from 2017 to Sept. 2022.
In early September of 2022 the Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) asked USPS management to audit the Pleasant Prairie post office due to concerns of missing stamp stock and cash.
The audit showed that the cash reserve was $266 short. When the auditor told Zgorzelski of the shortage, while withholding the amount, Zgorzelski said that the money was at his home because he couldn't make it to the bank and that he would go home and get the money.
According to court documents, OIG agents then watched Zgorzelski at an ATM in a nearby gas station in Kenosha as he withdrew cash and then watched him return to the post office 15 minutes after leaving, without going to his house.
Zgorzelski brought back $360 rather than the actual amount missing, $266. This tipped the auditor that he didn't remember how much money he had taken.
The court documents stated that while the audit continued, OIG agents were told that the unit reserve had risen to about $36,000 and by the end of the day, the missing amount had increased to over $57,000. Three days later, a more detailed and final cash and stamp count at the post office showed the loss had grown to $60,000. Zgorzelski had admitted that he is responsible for the loss amount.
According to court documents, Zgorzelski pleaded guilty to theft of government property.
In his confession, Zgorzelski explained that he had been having financial trouble since 2014 and had allegedly been embezzling money for the last few years. Zgorzelski explained that he would supposedly manipulate stamp count records to cover up his ongoing thefts and would get clerks to sign off on the stamp counts without allowing them to do a count.
The audit revealed that Zgorzelski was allegedly selling stamps to customers who paid in cash, and after the sale was entered, he would post-void the sales which would delete the transactions. Zgorzelski would also allegedly steal cash by performing a "No-Sale-Following-Void" transaction that would make the sale appear normal to the customer, however, they wouldn't receive a receipt. Within roughly two years, Zgorzelski had used that no-sale button 142 times while in comparison, his two co-workers had used that button less than 10 times each during that same two-year period.
Zgorzelski is facing up to 10 years in prison and being fined up to $250,000.
