Criminal Complaint — United States v. Christina Y. Robinson (D. Md., Dkt. 1, filed 03/11/20)

Summary

Document 1 in Case 1:20-mj-00822-BPG, filed March 11, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland: a criminal complaint against Christina Y. Robinson charging obstruction of mail under 18 U.S.C. 1701, for conduct in Baltimore City and County from approx. Feb. 2019 to Sept. 2019. The complainant is Steven M. Mason, Special Agent, USPS OIG. His attached probable cause statement describes greeting cards containing gift cards that were placed in the mail to be processed by Robinson and later redeemed. The statement says that in a September 5, 2019 interview Robinson admitted taking gift cards and cash from first-class mail, and that she resigned from the Postal Service on November 7, 2019.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Text recognized from a scanned document; may contain errors.

Case 1:20-mj-00822-BPG Document1 Filed 03/11/20 Page 1 of 4
AO 9I (Rev. 11/1) Criminal Complaint ; ere FILED___

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
for the MAR i 1 2020
District of Maryland f
United States of America ) DEPUTY
we . ) Case No.
Christina Y. Robinson .
) 20-0822BPG
)
)
)
Defendant(s)
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

I, the complainant in this case, state that the following is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
On or about the date(s) of _ approx. Feb. 2019 to Sept.2019 in the county of _ Baltimore City and County _ in the

District of Maryland , the defendant(s) violated:
Code Section Offense Description
18 U.S.C. 1701 , Obstruction of Mail

This criminal complaint is based on these facts:

See the attached Statement of Probable Cause.

% Continued on the attached sheet.

Complainant's signature

Steven M. Mason, Special Agent, USPS OIG

Printed name and title

Sworn to before me and signed in my presence.

Date: 3-Il- do | LEE

Judge's signature

City and state: Baltimore, Maryland Hon. Beth P. Gesner

Printed name and title
Case 1:20-mj-00822-BPG Document1 Filed 03/11/20 Pade 2 of 4

PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENT

I, Steven M. Mason, Special Agent, United States Postal Service- Office of Inspector
General (USPS OIG), Baltimore, MD being duly sworn, hereby depose and state the
following:

1. lama Special Agent, United States Postal Service (Postal Service), Office of
Inspector General (OIG) and have been so employed for the past 15 years.
Prior to joining the Postal OIG, I was a Police Office at the National
Security Agency for approximately two years. ] am currently
assigned to investigate Postal employees involved in the theft and /or
obstruction of U.S. Mail, and have been in this assignment for about 15 years.
I have attended a one-week Internal Mai] Theft Investigation
Training Course given by the Postal Service OIG. I have also. completed the
Criminal Investigation Training Course at the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center (FLETC).

Probable Cause

1. On February 14, 2019, the Postal Service OIG received information from
Postal Service customer, Germaine Turiano. She stated she mailed a $125
Amazon gift card to her son-in-law who resides in Baltimore, MD 21214.
Turiano contacted the Postal Service after she heard that the Amazon gift card
did not arrive to intended recipient. Turiano contacted Amazon about the
missing gift card and they informed her that the gift card had been redeemed
by a Christina Robinson. Postal management at the Parkville Branch stated to
the Postal Service OIG that they have a carrier technician (T-6) named
Christina Robinson. ,

2. Special Agent (SA) Steven Mason, Postal Service OIG, caused to be placed a

first-class greeting card containing a $10.00 Target gift card (041-204-958-
512-955) to be processed by Robinson on April 2, 2019. The greeting card

was mailed to an undeliverable address and should have been returned to
sender. The Target gift card was redeemed on April 25, 2019 and June 2,
2019.
placed Sine omy

3. On April 17, 2019, SA Mason caused to veh first-class greeting card
containing a $10 Walmart gift card (6098-643 1-4249-3663) to be processed
on April 17, 2019. The greeting card was mailed to an undeliverable address
and was returned to sender on July 1, 2019. The greeting card was rifled open
and did not contain the Walmart gift card (6098-643 1-4249-3663). SA Mason
checked the balance on the gift card and found it had been redeemed on April
25, 2019. ,
Case 1:20-mj-00822-BPG Document1 Filed 03/11/20 Page 3 of 4

4. On July 5, 2019, SA Mason received the transaction receipts for April 25,
2019 and June 2, 2019 from Target asset protection. Target also provided a
photo of the person who redeemed the Target gift card (041-204-958-512-
955) on June 2, 2019. SA Mason requested Postal Service management at the
Parkville Branch to review the photo and they identified the person in the

photo as Robinson.

5. On July 11, 2019, Darla Albers, customey, submitted mail os epi to
the Postal Service OIG Hotline. The coyplaint was referring ef two $25
Cracker Barrel gift cards (3086-3992-9904-0292-775 & 3086-3993-0904-
0206-106) that were inside a greeting/being mailed to Colorado Springs, CO.
Albers mailed the greeting card inside the Parkville Branch on July 1, 2019.
Albers learned that the gift cards were never received by the intended
recipient. redeemed at Cracker Barrel located in Linthicum Heights,

6. On July 15, 2019, SA Mason requested gift card information from Cracker
Barrel Loss Prevention Cracker Barrel Loss Prevention provided surveillance
video for July 2, 2019 at the Cracker Barrel located in Linthicum Heights, MD.
Loss prevention provided copies of the gift card transactions which occurred
on July 2, 2019 at 3:42 pm,

7. SA Mason reviewed the surveillance video from July 2, 2019 at
the Cracker Barrel in Linthicum Heights, MD. SA Mason reviewed the
surveillance video at 3:42 pm, which showed a black female with red hair
redeeming the gift cards. SA Mason showed surveillance video
to Postal Service management of the Parkville Branch and they identified the
black female with red hair as Robinson.

8. On July 31, 2019, SA Mason caused to be placed a first-class greeting card
containing a $10.00 Target gift card (041-212-923-877-619) to be processed
by Robinson on August 1, 2019. The greeting card was mail¢d to an
undeliverable address and should have been returned to sender. The Target
gift card was redeemed on August 10, 2019.

1? sme

9. On August 23, 2019, SA Mason received the transaction receipyof the Target
gift card (041-21-2-923-877-619) being redeemed on August aif, 2019 and a
photo of the person redeeming the gift card from Target Asset Protection. On
August 26, 2019, SA Mason had Postal Service management from the
Parkville Branch to review the photo and they identified the person as

Robinson.

10. On September 5, 2019, Postal Service O1G Agents interviewed Robinson at
the Parkville Branch. Robinson admitted to rifling through first-class mail
and taking gift cards and cash since Christmas 2018 to September 5, 2019.
Case 1:20-mj-00822-BPG Document1 Filed 03/11/20. Page 4of4

20-08228PG

Robinson admitted to taking SA Mason’s gift cards from April 2,

2019, and August 1, 2019. She also admitted to stealing the two Cracker
Barrel gift cards and redeeming them at the Cracker Barrel located in
Linthicum Heights. Robinson said she estimated going through.ten mail pieces
per week. She said, “almost every day going through it.”

11. On September 5, 2019, Postal Service OIG Agents collected Robinson’s
purse, lunch bag and Postal Service satchel from her assigned delivery
vehicle, Robinson gave agents consent to search all three bags. Agents found
8 gift cards inside Robinson’s purse. Robinson admitted she stole these gift
cards from the mail. Agents searched Robinson’s lunch bag and found one gift
card which Robinson admitted she stole from the mail. Agents;searched
Robinson’s Postal Service satchel] and found ten rifled first-class letters.
Robinson admitted to opening the 10 first-class letters. =.

12. In conclusion, it should be noted that Robinson had been working for the
Postal Service since 2009 and resigned from the Postal Service on November
7, 2019. Her assignment as a letter carrier does in no way authorized her to
open and steal contents from mail not addressed to her. AMM

I do solemnly declare and affirm under penalty of perjury that the contents of the
foregoing documents are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and

belief.

Steven M. Mason
United States Postal Service

Office of Inspector General


File and source

File

1.pdf

Size

140,143 bytes

SHA-256

13b0e83296727f688eb134ff54d9a43289c05d7047b27652615593e3ee85da58

Our copy

1.pdf

Original

No public link identified.