Postal worker stole Chick-fil-A, Dairy Queen gift cards from mail in Illinois, feds say

A 31-year-old woman was working at various Illinois post offices when authorities say she sifted through greeting cards to steal cash and gift cards.

Casey L. Neal, of Belle Rive, was a substitute sales and distribution clerk with the United States Postal Service when she’s accused of stealing at least $300 worth of gift cards and cash from greeting cards mailed through post offices in Belle Rive, Dahlgren and Macedonia, according to a Jan. 18 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Her defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for statement.

The mail thefts from January and February 2021 included two Vanilla Visa gift cards — prepaid cards used like a Visa debit card — according to the indictment filed in court. Officials say she used some of the stolen gift cards to buy money orders and pay her personal creditors.

After investigators were alerted to the thefts, authorities say they found more gift cards that Neal had stolen from the mail. Those eight stolen gift cards included one for Dick’s Sporting Goods, four for Dairy Queen, two for Chick-fil-A and one more Vanilla Visa, records show.

Neal was sentenced in the Southern District of Illinois to two years of probation and she was ordered to pay back her victims with a $220 restitution, according to court records.

This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Postal worker stole Chick-fil-A, Dairy Queen gift cards from mail in Illinois, feds say."