Post Office Employee Accused Of Stealing Nearly $500,000 In Cheques From The Mail

We trust them to deliver our tokens of affection, our cheques and our bills. But what if they never arrived at all? That's what many Ajax residents are pondering after Durham Regional Police arrested a Canada Post employee and charged her with stealing valuable items out of the mail.

Cops allege 55-year-old Lauren Theresa Boucaud was pilfering cheques meant for others and cashing them under assumed names at a number of financial institutions in the GTA.  They've been able to determine at least 150 pieces of mail from over 120 different addresses never reached their intended recipients in 2007, and cheques from insurance companies and other business never got to the people who were due to receive them. 

At least $477,000 was lost in the identity theft scheme and cops are wondering if anyone else was a victim. Boucaud has been employed by the post office since March 2006, working out of the Ajax depot, another in Thornhill and even delivering letters as an occasional fill in Whitby, Unionville and Mount Albert.

Her main route was an area encompassed by Rossland Road, Ravenscroft Road, Taunton Road and Harwood Avenue in north Ajax.

Cops are going to be contacting all those who should have received something in the mail but didn't, and want to talk to others who were expecting a cheque that never arrived. Call 1-888-579-1520, ext. 2532 if you think you're on the list.

Boucaud has been charged with theft and breach of trust and has been released pending a possible trial.

Map of affected route