MOLINE, Ill. — Editor's note: Previous reporting said Brown was the postmaster at the Moline Post Office. News 8 received this information directly from the criminal complaint. Police have since corrected that information saying Brown was the supervisor of customer service. The story has been updated and we apologize for any confusion.
Police say a supervisor at the Moline Post Office has been charged after detectives discovered nearly 500 opened greeting cards in his Davenport home, a criminal complaint shows.
Justin Brown, 42, has been charged with ongoing criminal conduct, a Class B felony. Brown was charged after a search warrant was executed at his home at 1715 Gaines Street in Davenport on Friday, June 28.
A witness told police that Brown would look for greeting cards he believed to contain cash or gift cards and remove those cards before they entered the mail system. The witness believes Brown had been doing this since December 2023, according to the complaint.
The police report states that Brown would take the mail back to his residence to open it.
Brown also allegedly received complaints from customers who had issues with their mail not arriving at its destination.
When police performed their raid on June 28, detectives located a total of 487 greeting cards.
The police report states:
"Several of these cards contained various different family photographs, messages between grandparents and grandchildren, get-well messages and personal checks. After reading some of the messages contained within some of the greeting cards, it is obvious to your affiant that some of the cards contained cash and gift cards which were no longer inside the card, including a card that contained empty packaging for a $100 gift card. Several of these cards were graduation, birthday, wedding, Father's Day, and celebration cards."
The mail came from several towns around the Illinois Quad Cities, including Moline, East Moline, Rock Island, Geneseo, Milan and Silvis. The report says that none of the mail appeared to have been scanned by the post office and no stamping indicated that it had reached the mail system.
The police report also states that detectives located gift cards and a digital scale with methamphetamine residue inside Brown's home.
A hearing for Brown's initial appearance in Scott County courts is set for July 9. Brown was already in custody at the Scott County Jail after being arrested for Operating While Intoxicated 2nd Offense on June 21.