Man pleads guilty to mail theft

By Erik Sanzenbach
St. Tammany News
Published on Sunday, August 29, 2010 12:22 AM CDT

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A Covington man, who was a contract truck driver for the U.S. Post Office, pled guilty to one count of theft of mail in U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey’s courtroom Thursday.

According to court documents,, Anthony Holcombe, 28, an employee of Pelican Mail Transports, a company that contracts with the USPS, stole a package from his own truck.

Postal inspectors began the investigation in March 2008 when the VA Inspector General’s Office said several veterans complained they were not getting their prescription medicines through the mail.

A postal inspector made up a phony package containing pseudo Hydrocodone and a radio transmitter. The package was addressed to someone in Amite.

The package was picked up by Holcombe March 20, 2008 from the USPS distribution center in New Orleans. Holcombe’s route took him to Amite and several towns in Tangipahoa and Washington parishes.

When Holcomb made his delivery to Amite, he did not drop off the phony package, and using the transmitter, agents tracked the package to Roseland and Tangipahoa post offices. As Holcombe was leaving the Tangipahoa post office, agents stopped the truck and searched it. They found a duffle bag on the front seat of the truck that had the package. At that point, Holcombe admitted to stealing the parcel.

Holcombe will be sentenced by Zainey Nov. 16, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release after his prison term.

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