Postal Worker who Stole Cash from Greeting Cards Must Write Letters of Apology

If you're one of the people whose greeting card was opened and pilfered of the cash inside by former mail carrier for the United States Postal Service, Robert Hart Jr. of Cranston, you should be getting a letter of apology soon.

A federal judge ordered Hart to write a letter of apology to every person he stole from. He was also sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

He is also required to pay restitution to his victims.

Court records show Hart stole money from more than 200 cards in September and October while working at a processing center in Providence.

He was watched by agents as he cut open greeting cards with marked $20 bills on Oct. 12. He was found to have the bills in his pockets when he was confronted later that day.

Hart rifled through 106 pieces of mail on Sept. 24 and 25, investigators said. All of the mail was first class greeting cards mailed from outside Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Ninety-seven pieces of rifled mail were recovered on Oct 11., court records indicate. Those items went through the mail between Oct. 1 and 10 and none of the recovered mail contained cash.

He was sentenced by Judge William E. Smith.