A former U.S. postal inspector stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from packages mailed by elderly victims of lottery fraud schemes.
The thefts occurred while the inspector held a leadership role investigating such crimes, reports Military.com.
Scott Kelley, 52, of Pembroke, Massachusetts, served as team leader of the mail fraud unit at the Boston headquarters of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
He gained access to daily reports tracking suspicious parcels under the JOLT (Jamaican Operations Linked to Telemarketing) initiative, an effort of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) designed at disrupting Jamaican-linked telemarketing scams that promised false lottery winnings to seniors.
Kelley requested the packages be routed to him, opened nearly 1,950 of them from January 2019 through August 2023, and removed the cash inside.
One victim was a 76-year-old retired Army veteran in Kansas who lost $19,100, while others included a retired construction worker, a retired nurse, and a 56-year-old Massachusetts resident on Social Security disability benefits who mailed $15,000.
Kelley pleaded guilty to dozens of federal counts including wire fraud, mail fraud, mail theft by a postal officer, money laundering, structuring transactions to avoid reporting, and filing false tax returns.
He laundered portions of the stolen funds and used some for personal expenses without reporting the income to the IRS.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs set sentencing for November 18, 2026.
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