California Postal Worker Charged With Opening Cards and Stealing Money

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A northern California postal worker has pleaded guilty to opening greeting cards and stealing the cash found inside.

Prosecutors say Dean Hudson of Marysville stole between $5,000 and $10,000 during a six-month period last year.

Hudson is scheduled to be sentenced in July after pleading guilty Friday in federal court in Sacramento to a single count of mail theft by a postal employee as part of a plea bargain. The maximum sentence is five years in prison.

Prosecutors say the 29-year-old employee was videotaped opening the cards between July and December 2008 at the U.S. Postal Service's Marysville Processing and Distribution Facility.