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Date: 02-10-2019
Case Style:
United States of America v. Breadoflife “Presley” Faiupu
Case Number: 3:18-cr-00009-SLG
Judge: James L. Robart
Court: United States District Court for the District of Alaska (Anchorage Borough)
Plaintiff's Attorney: Aunnie Steward
Defendant's Attorney: D. Scott Dattan
Description:
Anchorage, AK - Former Ravn Alaska Supervisor Sentenced for Stealing Mail from U.S. Postal Service
Stolen Mail Included 60 Apple Computers Intended for Delivery to School Districts in Alaska Villages
A former Ravn Alaska supervisor was sentenced for stealing mail, including Apple computers destined for school districts in Alaska villages, from the U.S. Postal Service.
Breadoflife “Presley” Faiupu, 37, of Anchorage, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason to serve five years of probation, with six months of community confinement in a halfway house. In addition to his sentence, Faiupu was also ordered to pay $90,000 in restitution, joint and severally with his co-defendants. In October 2018, Faiupu previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of mail theft.
During the course of the conspiracy, Faiupu and his co-defendant, Congress Lepou, abused their positions as supervisors at Ravn Alaska to steal computers from the mail, and then recruited those they supervised to help find buyers for the stolen computers. The investigation further revealed that Faiupu and Lepou would then share the proceeds from the sales with those they were tasked to supervise, thus ensuring their silence.
Specifically, from March 2015 to April 2017, Faiupu and Lepou used Ravn Alaska’s supervisor truck – intended for the transportation of mail from the U.S. Postal Service facility to Ravn airplanes for delivery to Alaska villages – to take articles stolen from the mail and drive them to the Ravn employee parking lot to load into their personal vehicles. Faiupu and Lepou recruited ramp agents Hubert Barte, Paulo Maae, Rogelio Daquis, as well as former ramp agent Harold Velicaria, to help find buyers for the stolen Apple computers. Lepou and Faiupu would then receive cash from Barte, Maae, Daquis, and Valicaria for the stolen computers, before sharing the proceeds.
During the course of the conspiracy, Faiupu and Lepou stole approximately 60 Apple computers from the mail. The total approximate retail value of stolen Apple computers attributable to Faiupu is $90,000. The majority of those computers were intended for delivery to school districts in Alaska villages. Lepou is scheduled to be sentenced on March 13, 2019, at 1:30 p.m.
Judge Gleason noted that the seriousness of the offense was based on the impact to the children who were waiting for computers to be delivered to rural school districts, but were instead stolen by Faiupu and his co-defendants and sold for a profit.
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) conducted the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of this case. The Alaska State Trooper Technical Crimes Unit assisted in the investigation.
Charge:
18:371 CONSPIRACY
(1)
18:1708 THEFT OF MAIL
(2)
18:1708 THEFT OF MAIL
(4)
18:1708 THEFT OF MAIL
(11)
Outcome: Count 1 and 4: 5 years probation, $200.00 special assessment, $90,000.00 restitution. Counts 2 and 11: DISMISSED.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: