FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KFSM) — A former Fayetteville postal worker was sentenced Thursday (Sept. 12) to 10 months in prison for stealing mail in Washington County.
Eleanor Francis Repper, 35, pleaded guilty in May in U.S. District Court to theft of mail by a postal service employee.
Repper’s sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. She was also fined more than $1,700.
In January 2018, several residents on Repper’s route in rural Washington County complained that they hadn’t received Amazon packages or gift cards, according to court documents.
The following month, investigators put a $20 bill in “test mail” for Repper to deliver.
Agents learned the “test mail had been rifled” during Repper’s route, so they pulled her over and she admitted to stealing the money.
Repper admitted to investigators that she’d stolen several other items of mail, including 30-40 Amazon parcels, 10 gift cards, coupons and some greeting cards with cash, according to court documents.
Repper was also arrested last Christmas for allegedly stealing several packages off porches in Rogers, then re-gifting them to her children on Christmas Eve.
She’s charged in Benton County Circuit Court with 73 counts of breaking or entering, three counts of theft by receiving, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance — all Class D felonies.
On Dec. 27, 2018, Rogers police found Repper at Reagan Elementary School throwing packages into a dumpster after a caller reported Repper driving through her neighborhood and going through mailboxes, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police searched Repper’s car and found a large amount of mail that belonged to residents in Rogers, Springdale, Bentonville, Lowell, Fayetteville and Siloam Springs. They also recovered two syringes and baggies with methamphetamine residue.
Repper said she spent the past few days driving around Northwest Arkansas stealing mail. She said she was looking for gift cards and cash, but said she may have also stolen up to 10 packages.
Repper said she couldn’t trust her memory because she was usually high during the incidents, according to the affidavit.
Police searched Repper’s hotel room where they found a children’s video game, board games, a tool mat and a Pokemon DVD collection that investigators believe she re-gifted to her kids.
Police said Repper insinuated that she got a thrill from stealing, according to the affidavit.
She’s pleaded not guilty and her next hearing is set for Sept. 30.
