toledoblade.com --

Marsha Billock-Strahm told a federal judge Thursday she wasn't being nosy when she stole select pieces of mail she was supposed to have delivered in rural Wyandot County between 2005 and 2009.

She was supporting a drug habit.

Billock-Strahm, 48, of Carey, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court yesterday to 11 federal charges related to mail theft from customers along her route.

She told Judge Jack Zouhary she started intercepting certain items from her deliveries in 2005, shortly after her father died.

The filtered mail included preapproved credit card applications that prosecutors said she used to fraudulently obtain $12,573 of clothing and other goods through the mail.

U.S. Department of Justice investigators learned she had removed credit cards she was supposed to have delivered, along with subsequent billing statements once she began racking up charges.

The longtime letter carrier, who is on unpaid suspension, has agreed to resign from her job with the U.S. Postal Service within a week as part of her plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

She told the judge in court yesterday that she became mired in depression after her father died and she turned to drugs, mostly crack cocaine. She said she was diagnosed as bipolar in August, 2008.

"I started using drugs. My financial situation got out of whack," Billock-Strahm said. "Things just snowballed. It's hard to explain if you haven't been there."

Judge Zouhary said he will sentence Billock-Strahm Dec. 21 after her presentence evaluation is completed.

She pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft, four counts of false credit card applications, five counts of identity theft, and one count of theft of mail.

Seth Uram, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Billock-Strahm could have faced 30 years in prison if convicted on one of the four charges related to falsifying credit card applications.

Prosecutors are seeking a minimum of 2 years and one month, Mr. Uram said.

Authorities confiscated more than 300 pieces of stolen mail from her, many of which had never been opened.

Though her federal indictment began with a 2008 timeline, Billock-Strahm surprised Judge Zouhary by stating that she had begun removing items from her deliveries as far back as 2005.

Billock-Strahm has been in state custody on a drug charge. She has been incarcerated in Crosswaeh Community Based Correctional Facility in Tiffin since being sentenced in February to six months in the facility on a charge of possession of crack cocaine.

Carey is a community of about 3,900 people.

Billock-Strahm's route was in that area, about 65 miles south of Toledo.

She said she worked part-time as a postal carrier for the past 18 years. She also held another part-time job for 16 years, she said.

Three family members attended yesterday's U.S. District Court proceeding, but declined comment.

Neither Mr. Uram nor Donna Grill, a federal public defender who represented Billock-Strahm yesterday, gave statements outside of the hearing. Billock-Strahm's lead court-appointed attorney, Andy Hart, was not there.

Billock-Strahm could be fined as much as $1 million under sentencing guidelines for the four credit-card charges, according to Mr. Uram. He said he does not expect such a fine because of her financial status.

A graduate of Carey High School, Billock-Strahm told the judge she has been married to her current husband for five years and that she has two children, ages 31 and 29.

Under her plea deal, she has agreed not to contest any administrative penalty the U.S. Postal Service imposes on her and has agreed never to seek employment again from that agency.

Thefts by mail carriers and other postal employees are rare, according to the Postal Service's Office of Inspector General.

The Postal Service delivers about 700 million pieces of mail to about 130 million addresses every day during the six-day work week.

People who suspect they have been victims of mail theft can go to uspsoig.gov or call 1-888-USPSOIG (1-888-877-7644).

Contact Tom Henry at:
thenry@theblade.com
or 419-724-6079.

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