What many have long suspected about postal workers

This is why you should never send cash through the mail.

From a story by Rob Young in the Appeal-Democrat newspaper near Sacramento, Calif.:

An East Linda man who stole cash from children's birthday cards while working at the U.S. Postal Service facility in Olivehurst will serve five months in federal prison.

Dean Edward Hudson, 29, was sentenced Friday in Sacramento by U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia. He could have been sentenced to as long as five years, the U.S. Attorney's Office said earlier.

Garcia ordered Hudson to serve five months on home detention after the prison sentence and pay $2,944 restitution to theft victims.

A U.S. attorney estimated earlier that Hudson stole between $5,000 and $10,000 from July to December 2008 while working on a mail sorting line.

According to investigators, Hudson opened more than 1,000 pieces of mail. After taking cash from cards, he replaced envelopes upside down on a sorting line so they would not jam machinery.

The Postal Service's Office of Inspector General arrested Hudson in December after observing him for an extended period of time during which he rifled through mail and took numerous breaks and trips to the restroom.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.