Prison Guard Guilty of Stealing Mail
On September 23, 2014, a guard at a Virginia state prison entered a guilty plea to one count of mail theft for stealing mail intended for prisoners.
Ezra Lamont Price was employed as a guard at the Danville Adult Detention Center when mail started disappearing from the prison mailroom.
"We get complaints on a regular basis — once a month regarding the mail," said Danville director Frank Mardavich. "We went from one a month to about 10 a month. It just started — one day we're having problems. It was just really weird."
An investigation ensued that quickly led to Price. The day he was arrested, police searched Price's car and found "lots of mail" in there, said Mardavich. "The more we looked into it the more we became convinced we should look into [Price]."
At the outset, no one suspected that a prison employee was responsible for the missing mail. According to Mardavich, the real proof of Price's guilt didn't come until police searched his vehicle in the prison parking lot.
Price, 33, later admitted to taking the mail, opening the mail, and taking things of value such as money orders. Strangely enough, police say none of the money orders were actually cashed.
Price pled guilty to one count of mail theft in federal court on September 23, 2014. He was sentenced in January 2015 to two month's probation and ordered to pay $820 in restition. See: U.S. v. Price, No. 4:14-CR-00018, U.S.D.C. (W.D. Va.).
Additional source: www.godanriver.com
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Related legal case
U.S. v. Price
| Year | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Cite | No. 4:14-CR-00018, U.S.D.C. (W.D. Va.) |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Bench Verdict |
| Injunction Status | N/A |