United States v. Lawrence D. Dupee

Dupee appeals his conviction by a jury of violating 18 U.S.C. § 500 (issuing a postal money order without receiving full payment) and 18 U.S.C. § 641 (embezzlement of money belonging to the United States). We affirm.

I.

Dupee was a sergeant in the Army who was assigned as the postal clerk at the Army’s Yakima Firing Center at Yakima, Washington. One of his duties was to sell money orders and on May 14, 1976, pursuant to that responsibility, he was issued by the Postal Service 500 blank, consecutively numbered money orders. He had previously been issued a validation plate (a numbered metal tab) which, when inserted in the money order issuing machine, imprints a serial number on each money order.

A money order consists of three sheets of paper, an original and two carbon copies. The white carbon copy is called a voucher and is to be kept by the postal clerk issuing the money order. The vouchers are normally remitted by the issuing postal worker to Postal Service officials, and the cash received from money order purchases is deposited in the Service’s account in a specified bank. By comparing the total amount of money recorded on the vouchers with the cash deposited, and by…