U.S. Postal carrier charged with stealing Miami-Dade mail-in ballot, debit cards

Jay Weaver
·2 min read

A U.S. Postal Service carrier has been arrested on charges of stealing one Miami-Dade County mail-in ballot that was sent to a Miami Beach resident earlier this month, federal authorities said Monday.

Crystal Nicole Myrie is also accused of stealing 10 gift cards and four prepaid debit cards not in her name, as well as 36 political flyers and 150 other pieces of mail found in her car, according to a criminal complaint.

Myrie, 31, who had her first appearance in federal court Monday, could not be reached for comment because she was still in custody and a defense attorney was not listed on the court docket.

Between Oct. 5-16, Myrie “embezzled letters, postal cards and mail which came into her possession intended to be carried or delivered by her,” according to the complaint filed by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

Last Friday, two postal inspector agents said they questioned Myrie, a city carrier assistant, at the Normandy branch post office. They said Myrie admitted to stealing several prepaid debit cards that were supposed to be delivered to a customer on her route and used them at certain retail stores.

At the end of the interview, the agents told her that she would have to turn in her postal identification. She said the ID was in her personal car in the employee parking lot.

The agents asked her if she had any mail or other items in her car, and at first she said no but then responded yes, the complaint said.

“Upon approaching the vehicle, [one agent] observed, in plain view through a rear window, several postal service satchels containing white envelopes in the back seat of Myrie’s personal vehicle,” according to the complaint. “Myrie is not authorized to deliver mail from her personal vehicle.”

The two postal inspector agents searched her car and found “undelivered mail for the zip code serviced by Myrie” in Miami Beach, the complaint said.

One of the pieces of undelivered mail was a vote-by-mail ballot sent by the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections to a local resident on Oct. 6.

“By stealing [the victim’s] vote-by-mail ballot, Myrie deprived [the victim] of her right to vote,” the complaint said. Upon further questioning, Myrie “admitted that she has been stealing mail sporadically [on her route] for almost two years.”