Juárez postal worker accused of stealing mail from El Paso

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 01/31/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

A Juárez postal employee whose job was to pick up bags of El Paso mail at the border and deliver them to Juárez is accused of stealing 300 of those bags and looting them for checks and cash during the past 10 years, the Mexican attorney general's office in Juárez said.

Federal police said they found 7 tons of opened mail at the Juárez home of Juan Manuel Vargas Lopez this week during an investigation sparked by a Juárez widow, Elda de la Torre Triste.

Attorney general spokesman Angel Torres said the woman reported that she never received a $4,000 or $5,000 check from the U.S. government, possibly Social Security, after the death of her husband.

But U.S. records showed the check had been cashed.

Officials said Vargas, as well as another Juárez postal employee, Oscar Gomez Escarcega, may face two to seven years in prison for mail theft.