Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-102
§1709 Theft of Mail Matter by Officer or Employee
Title 18 › PART I — CRIMES › CHAPTER 83 — POSTAL SERVICE › § 1709
Summary
Taking or stealing letters, postal cards, packages, mail bags, or things inside them while handling mail for the Postal Service is not allowed. A Postal Service officer or employee who does this can be fined under federal law, jailed up to five years, or both.
Full Legal Text
Title 18, §1709
Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, embezzles any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein entrusted to him or which comes into his possession intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier, messenger, agent, or other person employed in any department of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or of the Postal Service; or steals, abstracts, or removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 318 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 195, 35 Stat. 1125). The provisions of said section 318 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., were incorporated in this section and section 1703 of this title. The fine of “$500” was increased to “$2,000” as more proportionate to the imprisonment provision and to conform with other comparable sections. (See section 1702 and 1708 of this title.) Changes were made in phraseology.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $2,000”. 1970—Pub. L. 91–375 substituted “officer” for “postmaster” in section catchline, and in text substituted “Postal Service officer or employee” for “postmaster or Postal Service employee” and “entrusted” for “intrusted” and inserted “or of the Postal Service” after “Postmaster General”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1970 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an
Effective Date
note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
18 U.S.C. § 1709
Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102