A letter carrier charged with theft from mail last year, was sentenced to a 15-month term that will include six months of complete house arrest and nine months under curfew.
Nisar Fatima Rizvi choked back tears as she pleaded guilty Monday to two charges – one of theft from mail and one count of possession of property obtained by crime.
Rizvi was a postal carrier working on rural routes around the St. Albert area when suspicions arose that not all of her deliveries were making it to their intended recipients.
To resolve the issue Canada Post inspectors put a package in Rizvi’s deliveries that was designed to alert them if it was tampered with. The package was geared to respond to light and alert the inspectors that it had been opened and where it was.
When that happened inspectors called the RCMP who went with them to Rizvi’s home. In addition to finding the “bait package” in the home, they also found several gift cards and cheques.
Both the crown and the defence suggested the house arrest term and Judge Bruce Garriock agreed. He noted Rizvi’s lack of a criminal record and obvious sincere remorse, while also pointing out the theft had been a significant breach of trust.
Under the terms of the house arrest Rizvi will have to remain at home at all hours, with exceptions only for going to work, performing community service hours and taking her kids to school and medical emergencies.
Her curfew in the last nine months of the sentence will be from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. During the entire term she will have to take any counselling a probation officer recommends and report regularly to probation, as well as perform 100 community service hours.
Rizvi left work with Canada Post soon after the charges were laid.
