Postmaster jailed for stealing over $50,000

By Keith Gushard

11/08/06 November 07, 2006 11:57 pm

— ERIE — The former U.S. Postmaster in Cochranton will serve five months in jail for stealing more than $50,000 worth of money and stamps during a two-and one-half year period.
Larry Alan Robison, 57, of 11135 Liberty St. Ext., Meadville, was sentenced to five months in jail followed by five months home detention and then three years probation by U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin. Robison also was ordered to pay $52,720 in restitution to the U.S. Postal Service.
Robison pleaded guilty in federal court July 25 to one count of theft of government money and property. He had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
He was indicted in March by a federal grand jury in Erie for stealing more than $4,507.25 in money and another $1,696.91 in stamps on March 3 while serving as postmaster of the Cochranton Post Office.
Auditors and investigators with the U.S. Postal Service determined that Robison had embezzled an additional $52,720 in connection with the March 2006 theft, according to Christine A. Sanner, the assistant U.S. Attorney who presented the case to court.
“He was taking $400 to $600 a week in stamps and reselling them to customers,” Sanner told the Tribune.
Authorities traced the stamp thefts back about two-and-one-half years, Sanner said.
Robison was taken into custody following his sentencing.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation in the case.