Daily printout: Feb. 11

A former mail carrier was recently sentenced to 15 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $65,000 for his role in trafficking drugs in Yonkers, NY.

Agents with the USPS Office of Inspector General, also known as the OIG, suspected parcels of narcotics were being sent to trafficking organizations in Yonkers.

Their list of suspects eventually whittled down to one: The carrier.

The man was found to be falsely marking parcels as delivered only to bring them home with him.

A sting operation — with the help of the Postal Inspection Service and Drug Enforcement Administration — caught the carrier with three parcels containing a total of 6 kilograms of cocaine.

A search of the man’s home found a safe containing $12,000 in cash, a handgun and 300 grams of fentanyl — an amount that could have killed as many as 150,000 people, according to OIG agents.

“The American public places its trust in Postal Service employees to uphold the integrity of the U.S. Mail,” said Tammy Hull, the Postal Service’s inspector general. “The trafficking of life-threatening narcotics through the postal system gravely undermines that trust. The USPS OIG is unwavering in its commitment to prevent such abuses and to hold any complicit employees fully accountable.”

The OIG recently highlighted the case on its website.

If you suspect or know of mail theft involving Postal Service employees or contractors, report it to the OIG.

The Postal Service is reminding employees and contractors to follow basic practices and safeguards against human error to prevent cyberthreats.

Human error includes leaving a workstation unlocked, clicking a link in a phishing email or mishandling sensitive information. Such actions can result in sensitive data being leaked, credentials being stolen and personally identifiable information being exposed.

Human error accounted for 60 percent of data breaches last year, according to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report.

Here are some tips to minimize human error:

• Lock your computer when not using it by clicking the Windows key + L, or by clicking CTRL + ALT + Delete.

•Don’t respond to suspicious phone calls, text messages or emails. And before clicking any links, hover your cursor over each one to verify the sender and destination.

• Add #sensitive# to the subject line of any email containing sensitive or sensitive-enhanced information that is being sent outside the USPS network.

• Don’t plug an unapproved flash drive, external hard drive or smartphone into USPS computers. Use only USPS-approved USB devices found in the eBuyPlus catalog.

The CyberSafe at USPS Blue and LiteBlue pages have more information.