BOSTON - A supervisor for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has been charged in federal court in Boston with allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in government funds through a false travel reimbursement scheme.
Anthony Fernandes, 37, of Douglas, Mass. was charged with one count of theft of government money. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
According to the charging documents, Fernandes was a supervisor for the USPS in Buzzards Bay. It is alleged that Fernandes fraudulently used his USPS supervisor’s travel authorization account to approve approximately $52,987 in bogus travel reimbursement requests for the period of April through November 2022.
The charge of theft of government money provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to a $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Chao, Chief of Rollins’ Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit, is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys