Former Poplar Bluff area postal worker sentenced for stealing mail

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - A former postal worker in the Poplar Bluff, Missouri area was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution for stealing cash and gift cards from the mail.

Brittney Bulliner, 29, appeared for her sentencing hearing on Tuesday, May 16 at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Bulliner, who lives near Poplar Bluff was caught in a sting stealing Walmart gift cards and a gift card for Kohl’s and admitted to stealing and rifling through 17 greeting cards two days before she was confronted. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2022 on two counts of theft of mail and pleaded guilty to both charges in February.

According to a release from U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Sayler Fleming, the investigation began after postal customers in the Poplar Bluff area began complaining in April 2022 about mail that was missing its contents. On August 18, 2022, Bulliner was identified as a possible suspect. At the time, she was a sales and service distribution clerk.

On Aug. 20, 2022, an agent of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General placed a blue envelope containing a greeting card and two $25 Walmart gift cards into the mail which was to be worked by Bulliner. The cards, along with a third gift card, were used by Bulliner on Aug. 23, 2022 to buy two bicycles at Walmart, according to the release.

On September 15, 2022, the agent placed a blue greeting card containing a Kohl’s gift card with no value into the mail at the Broseley, Mo. Post Office. Agents confronted Bulliner after she opened the card, and she admitted to stealing it. She also admitted stealing and opening 17 greeting cards before taping them shut and returning them. Agents found those cards in the Post Office the day they confronted Bulliner, the release said.

The investigation identified at least 45 Postal Service customers who were missing mail that was taken by Bulliner.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Hahn prosecuted the case.

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