01/20/10 Bend

U. S. District Court Judge Michael R. Hogan sentenced June Marie Newburn, 50, of Joseph, Oregon, to imprisonment for 18 months and ordered her to pay $156,462 in restitution to the U.S. Postal Service following last September's guilty plea to one count of stealing government property.

Newburn, whose last postal position was Lead Sales Associate in Bend, Oregon, had a 23-year career with the Postal Service that ended in 2007. For nearly two years, she stole cash and money orders and collected fraudulent postal refunds. Court documents indicate that the money orders totaled $105,206, the cash totaled $16,491 and the fraudulent refunds totaled $34,764.54. Newburn voluntarily resigned after her embezzlement came to light during an audit in 2007.

At today's sentencing, Judge Hogan heard evidence that Newburn used stolen money to feed a gambling addiction and provide support for her adult children. In imposing the sentence, the judge considered Newburn's position of trust, the amount of money she stole and the length of the embezzlement period: October 2005 to July 2007.

Judge Hogan allowed Newburn 60 days to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons. Judge Hogan also ordered Newburn to withdraw retirement funds to partially satisfy restitution no later than 90 days following her release from prison.

"The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) considers theft by USPS employees to be a very serious crime," said David A. Montoya, Special Agent in Charge, USPS OIG, Western Area Field Office. "The overwhelming majority of Postal employees are honest, hardworking, and trustworthy individuals who would never consider engaging in this type of criminal behavior. But when a Postal employee betrays that trust, our Special Agents vigorously investigate those matters. The public we serve can be assured this type of behavior will never be tolerated."