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Man Who Cashed More Than $60,000 In Stolen Postal Money Orders Sentenced

A Connecticut man with a criminal history will spend time in prison after conspiring with his wife to steal more than 150 U.S. Postal money orders and cashing more than $60,000.

District Court in Bridgeport.

District Court in Bridgeport.

Photo Credit: Google Maps

James Lebel, formerly of the township of Brooklyn in Windham County, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud late last year.

Label, 40, and his wife, Michelle Barbeau, a USPS employee at the Wauregan Post Office in Plainfield conspired to take 179 blank money orders and imprinted them with various denominations. Label then cashed more than $60,355 in fraudulently imprinted money orders at a post office in Hartford.

U.S. Attorney John Durham said that Label’s criminal history includes convictions for harassment, larceny, sexual assault, burglary and narcotics offenses. He was arrested on Sept. 19 last year, and pleaded guilty on Jan. 15.

Barbeau pleaded guilty to the same charge on Jan. 16 and was sentenced to three years probation and eight months of home confinement on April 10. The pair have also been ordered to pay full restitution.

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