{"id":413966,"date":"2026-09-29T18:51:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413966\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T18:51:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:51:40","slug":"feds-tallahassee-postal-worker-accomplice-sentenced-for-mail-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413966\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds: Tallahassee postal worker, accomplice sentenced for mail theft"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former U.S. Postal Service employee and her accomplice have been sentenced to federal prison for a yearslong scheme involving stolen mail, bank fraud and identity theft in Tallahassee, federal prosecutors announced.<\/p>\n

Taija Avion Smith, 25, and Jaheed Anthony Williams, 24, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail theft, theft of a mail key, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and multiple counts of aggravated identity theft.<\/p>\n

Williams, who also previously pleaded guilty to 14 counts of bank fraud, was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Smith was sentenced to two years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida.<\/p>\n

It follows another plea earlier in September from a longtime U.S. Postal Service employee, who admitted to stealing gift cards and cash from mail.<\/p>\n

More: Tallahassee postal worker pleads guilty to stealing from US mail<\/a><\/p>\n

Mail delivery has been a sore point in Tallahassee for many years. Alongside letters and packages arriving weeks late, other complaints include intercepted checks, stolen gift cards and more.<\/p>\n

In the most recent case, federal court records show Smith worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Tallahassee from March 2021 through May 2024. Prosecutors say she used her position to obtain a postal key, which she stole and provided to Williams.<\/p>\n

Authorities said the pair used the key to steal mail, including checks, which they then fraudulently deposited into bank accounts and split the proceeds. Court documents also indicate Smith obtained and used online banking credentials belonging to other individuals as part of the scheme.<\/p>\n

“These federal prison sentences should serve as a warning to criminals who consider mail theft and check fraud a lucrative endeavor,” said Bladismir Rojo, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Miami Division, in a statement.<\/p>\n

The case was investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Feds: Tallahassee postal worker, accomplice sentenced for mail theft<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former U.S. Postal Service employee and her accomplice have been sentenced to federal prison for a yearslong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[104202,32137,34917,27014,164010,37487,37488,164009,232,234,233,6049,40980],"class_list":["post-413966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-bank-fraud","tag-federal-prison","tag-federal-prosecutors","tag-identity-theft","tag-jaheed-anthony-williams","tag-mail-theft","tag-postal-inspection-service","tag-taija-avion-smith","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-tallahassee-police-department","tag-u-s-postal-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}