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7/3/09
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court news Former postmaster sentenced in theft
BANGOR, Maine — The former Vanceboro postmaster told a federal judge Thursday she stole $4,616 in postal money to feed a gambling habit.
Choking back sobs, Joy Gillis, 56, of Danforth told U.S. District Judge John Woodcock she had caused pain and embarrassment to her family, and asked that she serve no jail time.
“My supervisors trusted me, and I abused it,” she said. “Most importantly, I sinned against my God; I let my spending be my god.”
Woodcock sentenced Gillis to three years probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered her to seek counseling for her gambling and spending addictions, as well as depression.
Gillis, who was a U.S. Postal Service employee for 19 years, confessed to diverting money spent on stamps and money orders at the Vanceboro Post Office for her own use in an interview with USPS investigators on July 10, 2008.
She pleaded guilty in March to misappropriation of postal funds.
Gillis told investigators she spent some of the money on personal bills and gambling debts. She also used some to bail her nephew out of jail. Neither the court documents nor Woodcock said where Gillis had spent money on gambling.
The defense cited her family’s bankruptcy, difficulty with her daughter and the closure of her husband’s sawmill as stress factors that enticed her to steal.
Woodcock’s ruling also included restitution for the money she stole, which as of Thursday she had paid back in full.
As a stipulation of her probation, Gillis is not allowed to have a credit card without the permission of her probation officer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Lowell recommended that Woodcock sentence Gillis to jail time, though he conceded that it was a “close call,” given her apparent remorse, close ties with her church and community and the repayment of the money she stole.
“She had a good job in a part of the state where jobs are scarce and she stole from her employer,” he said.
Lowell commented that “she only stopped when she was found out,” although “even with the abuse of trust [of a federal position], the decision is a close one.”
Under the prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, the recommended sentence was between zero and six months. The guidelines also allow a judge to impose a defendant to probation.
Gillis told Woodcock her greatest concern was for her granddaughter, who is currently in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services and is slated to be released into her custody soon, she said.
She told Woodcock that she would accept whatever judgment he passed down as “God’s will.”
Woodcock told Gillis he was afraid to be too lenient and was inclined to sentence her to jail time to deter future theft by postal employees.
“But today, Mrs. Gillis, I‘m sentencing you, I’m not sentencing them,” he told her.
By imposing the fine, Woodcock said he hoped to punish Gillis without making it impossible for her to pay.
“In stealing money, you have revealed what you value,” he said.
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...and if Woodcock could get his ass into work before 9:00 AM and kept at it after 3:00 PM, he could have heard her case well within the year that it took. But, who has to work harder for a raise in this day and age? Certainly not judges, they somehow just deserve one, or so they think.
FEDERAL CRIME AND NO JAIL TIME???? WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAS TO STEEL MONEY FOR HER HABITS...... COME ON THE POSTAL SERVICE PAYS THERE EMPLOYEE'S DAMN WELL......... SHE SHOULD OF GOT THE JAIL TIME....... THIS LADY WAS IN CHARGE OF A POST OFFICE..... WHO KNOWS WHAT SHE COULD OF STOLEN, LETTERS, PACKAGES, ECT......... WHATS THIS WORLD COMING TO? YOU, SHOULD BE VERY ASHAMED OF YOUR SELF...... LETTING DOWN ALL THE PEOPLE THAT USED OUR POST OFFICE LADY............... I WON'T BE TALKING TO HER ANY MORE................
The crooks who steal from private business get jail time. What a stupid judge.
That is a bunch of BS. She need's to do jail time hard telling what she has stole THIS WOMEN CANT BE TRUSTED
NO JAIL TIME???why because she seems remorseful??Of course she is...NOW. I believe if a person commits this type of federal offense they should be punished to the full extent of the law. NO MATTER WHAT their EXCUSE is!!!! People make up stories to try & con their way out of situations. I know this woman and she is an evil back stabbing fake christian. She didn't appreciate her job obviously and I would like to see her punished for what she did!
...Oh let me guess...the devil made her do it...BULL!
I'll just bet she wasn't "choking back sobs and remorseful" when she was stealing the money. She wasn't to concerned about her grandchild or her church while she was stealing.
Get over it you guys, Joy has a sickness just like Druggies and alcoholics do. Joy made a very big mistake, she made very bad judgment and she has learned her lesson. Joy is a wonderful person regardless of what she did. Tomorrow you guys will forget about this newspaper article and go on to complain about something different. Amomsopinion Im sure you dont know Joy, you only know the things you have heard about her. Joy is far from evil, backstabbing or fake.
My father always said, "#1- it's easy to find God when you get caught, #2- sooner or later, we all go country(music), #3- the car behind you has one goal - to get in front of you."
Well atleast she paid back the money that she stole and has some remorse. The said part is that she most likely will not be able to find another job unless she is flipping hambugers.
I actually used to wrk with her...so I know her VERY WELL!!!
Just because you worked with her doesnt mean you know her VERY WELL. I have worked with the same people for 6 years and I dont know them VERY WELL.
hmmmm you know her so very well eh?.... then what was your position in her shceme?
No position whatsoever, I have known Joy my whole life. We dont even live in the same county for go sakes. . So Rollo your so smart, just because you know someone so well means you must have taken part in whatever it was they did. Get a life. All im saying is people that live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones and im sure if someone wanted to dig deep into your past im sure they would find alot. And when I said that i have worked witht he same people for 6 years, that did not mean that I have worked with Joy or anyone else in the postal service for that matter.
Well good to know.. you don't get indeep trouble when you steal to feed your habits and are so remorseful..my life sux right now financially,
can i get the same treatment should i pull the same crap?..of course not..The po was gonna let me go, just cuz I hurt myself on the job..
sometimes this world really bites..makes no sense
Regardless does anyone really know a person...if you work with them...go to church with them (which I did both)..whatever. The fact is she STOLE MONEY from the US POSTAL SERVICE which is a FEDERAL OFFENSE. Her salary was big enough why couldn't she budget her money better?? NO EXCUSE...and she should be sent to jail!
Been there done that. I know how it is to be in a desperate situation. God bless you! Good luck!
It’s a shame Joy
Did this mean anything to you . To execute ,fulfill the duties of the said office according to the laws of the USPS regulations.
to have and hold this office with all the entitled rights, compensation subject to the conciliations prescribed by law ,postal regulations.
This certifies my special trust and confidence in your intelligence, diligence ,discretion, and ability to perform the duties of this office. ;(
As a newcomer to Danforth, about six years, I've learned that you have to have A LOT OF FORGIVENESS to survive up here. It's a good community, but hard pressed for jobs and very isolated from the rest of America. But I still think it's a good place to live.
I don't think anybody really knows me in Danforth, but good and bad rumors may have been passed about me, and some of them may be true. :) But, no matter what the rumors or truth, about a person up here, YOU STILL NEED A LOT OF FORGIVENESS IN YOUR HEART, just to survive up here. Surviving in Danforth is not easy!
The old timers don't want your input, because you're from a foreign place called AWAY, or The Flatlands. They already have their friends and family and relationships from forever in the past, and don't need new ones. A very tiny populace of 600, so if you're in the habit of living among a community of 9 million people to find friends, you will miss all of your friends from where you moved from. NOTHING COMES EASY IN DANFORTH, but I still think it's a good place to live!
The worst part...? NO TIME!! NO TIME?? are you sh&**ing me? NO JUSTICE!!
Well, doesn't the Bible say, - LET HIM WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE?
RogerNamVet, why oh why would you want to live in Danforth. My husband lived there for years growing up and couldn't wait to get out of there. Everyone knows your business, or they think they do, and they HAVE their noses in everyone's business, invited or not. Gossip is all they have there and it keeps the busybodies jawing all day. And you are right......not friendly at all even if you are family. My husband has a large family in the Eaton area and they line both sides of the road although the inhabitants are dwindling one by one now, but he couldn't survive marriage wise there because all of his cousins wanted to bed the "new woman" in town and I'll be damned if they didn't succeed! But that's another story haha. It's a nice place to ride through and visit but I could never live there for the specific reasons that I mentioned.
Paws51. Im pretty sure I know all of your husbands family and im sure they wanted to bed the "new woman", but I for some reason find it hard to believe that the new woman would bed them.
It always seems there is an excuse when someone gets caught stealing........but I think that anyone that steals should have jail time.....PERIOD!
HAHA! sosaysyou! I agree with you, but it seems that she thought she was keeping it all in the family lol! Or so that was the story SHE told. :0)
It's the judge I'm worried about. He seems to give out very lite sentences. Ask Bobby Newell. Do the crime and do the time. She should have gone to jail so she could fave had time to focus on the wrong she did. I don't know her or Bobby, I just think the jedge is our problem. If you cry you get off easy.