Postal clerk charged in parcel theft

A U.S. Postal Service mail processing clerk is accused of stealing parcels that had been set aside for inspection because they were suspected of containing marijuana.

The U.S. Attorney filed a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court Tuesday charging Chad Kauhane with one count of theft of mail by a Postal Service officer or employee. The charge accuses Kauhane of stealing the contents of a Medium Flat Rate Priority Parcel on Sept. 24.

U.S Marshal Service deputies arrested Kauhane at the Postal Serv­ice Honolulu District Office Wednesday morning. Kauhane appeared in U.S. District Court Wednesday afternoon.

The USPS Office of Inspector General says approximately 22 parcels suspected of containing marijuana went missing between December last year and September this year. The parcels had been intercepted at various post offices in Hawaii, placed in larger containers, assigned new tracking numbers and mailed to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Honolulu for examination. The USPIS never received them.

After analyzing the tracking histories, the OIG says it determined that the parcels were probably stolen at a particular small parcel/bundle sorter machine at the Hono­lulu processing and distribution center. Agents conducted surveillance and identified Kauhane as the primary suspect.

The OIG says video surveillance recorded a person resembling Kauhane on seven occasions remove parcels from a bin of small packages destined for the Postal Service Honolulu District Office near the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

Agents at the processing and distribution center saw Kauhane rifling through a parcel he removed from the sorter, take out its contents and dispose of the box, the OIG said.

When confronted outside the facility, agents said Kauhane had some of the parcel’s contents in his backpack and marijuana in his lunch cooler.

The OIG said Kauhane later admitted stealing numerous marijuana parcels.