U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced on Tuesday that an Anchorage man has been indicted on charges of Obstructing U.S. Mail parcels, stealing cell phones and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

An Anchorage grand jury handed down the indictment, charging 41-year-old Jermaine N. Sails of the crimes after an investigation by the United States Postal Service, Office of the Inspector General.

Sails, who was employed by a private contractor, who handled U.S. Mail parcels, is suspected of  taking numerous packages containing cell phones, some of which contained cell phones being mailed back to service providers and for repair returns beginning in October 2016 and continuing until August 2017. During this time, at least 400 cell phones, valued at approximately $50,000, turned up missing in the mail.

It was on August 30th, 2017, that Sails was confronted by special agents regarding the missing cell phones. When contacted, it was found that Sails, a convicted Felon, originating from a 2004 felony assault case, was in possession of a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Bottini, if convicted of the mail obstruction charge, Sails faces a prison sentence of up to 5 years. If convicted of the felon in possession of a firearm charge, Sails faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

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