Gift cards, Menards rebate checks targeted in postal thefts

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — An Ottawa County postal worker was charged this week with stealing mail and a gift card — one of three postal employees recently accused in western Michigan of theft.

Two of the cases involve mail from home improvement retailer Menards.

In the most recent case, Robert L. Thompson is accused of taking a gift card and also stealing approximately 12 pieces of mail.

The offenses occurred over a three-day period in Ottawa County last fall, according to an indictment filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

Theft or embezzlement of mail by a postal employee is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Earlier this month, a federal grand jury indicted postal employee Jacqueline M. Garrow for removing items from the mail in Ingham County.

She’s accused of taking three Menards gift cards that had been addressed to recipients along her delivery route, according to the indictment. The offense occurred in 2022, records show.

Garrow, of Lansing, is free on a personal recognizance bond. She has a court hearing scheduled for mid-May.

And in Niles, located in southwest Michigan, a postal employee was accused of stealing Menards rebate checks.

Linda K. Stilwell was indicted last month on 21 counts of mail fraud and one count of delay and destruction of the mail.

Stilwell was working as a postal carrier out of the Niles Post Office when the offenses occurred between 2020 and 2023, court records show.

Stilwell “stole mail addressed to people along her postal route, which contained Menards rebate checks,” according to the six-page indictment. “Defendant redeemed those Menards rebate checks to obtain products at Menards stores.”

She also used pseudonyms and mailed rebate receipts to Menards “and she received rebate checks from Menards in return,” the indictment states.

The charge of delay and destruction of mail accuses Stilwell of opening and destroying mail between October 2020 and September 2023.

Mail fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison while delay/destruction of mail carries a five-year term.

Stilwell is out on an unsecured $10,000 bond. She has a pretrial conference set for late April.

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