USPS inspector indicted on 45 counts for stealing from scam victims

A former U.S. postal inspector who led fraud investigations in Boston was indicted Friday on 45 federal counts alleging he stole more than $330,000 from packages mailed by scam victims and used the proceeds for home improvements, vacations and payments to escorts, prosecutors said. Scott Kelley, 51, of Pembroke, Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty in federal court after a grand jury returned the indictment, according to court records and a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Kelley worked for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service from 2015 through August 2023, serving as team leader of the Mail Fraud Unit until June 2022 and then as team leader of the Mail Theft Unit, prosecutors said. The indictment alleges that between January 2019 and August 11, 2023, Kelley sent deceptive emails to subordinate postal employees instructing them to redirect packages flagged as likely containing cash from victims of a Jamaican sweepstakes scam to his custody. Postal policies permit intercepted packages suspected to be fraud proceeds to be rerouted for review, but employees are not authorized to open parcels without the sender's consent and must count cash with another inspector present...