A POSTAL service worker has admitted to stealing money from the mail including a $500 birthday gift from an Illinois grandmother.

Porcia Denise Rhodes from St Louis, Missouri was arrested on November 15 for mail theft and bank fraud.

According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Rhodes admitted to both charges and has pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in St. Louis.

The 27-year-old was hired as a mail processing clerk by the U.S. Postal Service on July 3, 2022.

Rhodes worked at the Metro Annex and St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center.

Soon after she took on the job, Rhodes quickly began rifling through the mail for checks she could deposit into her bank.

According to authorities, the woman is believed to have stolen around 21 checks totaling $5,035.

Rhodes’ signed plea deal allegedly states that she would take the stolen checks, scratch out the payee’s name, and then write in her own, according to The Fresno Bee.

Authorities gave the example of a grandmother from Illinois who had mailed a birthday card containing a $500 check to her grandson in Florida in July 2022.

The generous gift never arrived and Rhodes’ plea agreement states that this was one of the many checks that she stole.

It is believed by authorities that over 10 individuals and businesses were impacted by her actions at the processing center.

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The press release states that Rhodes faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the charge of bank fraud.

In addition to this, she could get up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the theft.

Rhodes is set to have a hearing on February 12.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to the U.S. Postal Service for comment.

Meanwhile, Olivia Bryant from Chicago is due to be sentenced on December 7 after pleading guilty to stealing checks from the mail.

The former postal carrier stole hundreds of checks between December 2020 and March 2021, many of which were from the U.S. Treasury and were Covid stimulus checks.

Bryan pleaded guilty on September 14 with court records stating that on one day in March, she stole 11 pieces of First Class mail.

This included a $250 treasury check, a check for $551 in social security benefits, a $212 tax refund, and a $135 and $17.62 treasury checks.

The 35-year-old faces up to five years in federal prison.

Following the sentencing of another woman who stole marijuana from the mail and made thousands of dollars by selling it, the U.S. Postal Service warned employees against breaching the trust of the public.

U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General of the Western Pacific Area Field Office Kenneth Bulle said: “Today’s sentencing underscores the value of the public’s trust in the USPS and the consequences that result when a USPS employee breaches that trust through theft.”