Post Office supervisor from Compton stole gold, Confederate cash, checks

A U.S. Postal Service supervisor from Compton could get two decades in prison after she admitted on Friday to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of checks and other valuable items out of the mail.

Joivian Tjuana Hayes, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of mail by a Postal Service employee and one count of unlawful use of means of identification, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

Hayes, who was a supervisor at the Costa Mesa Post Office, stole the checks and valuables last year. She deprived victims of at least 20 checks adding up to about $284,000, as well as $40,000 worth of items like gold and collector currency, such as a Confederate $10 bill.

Hayes was able to deposit the checks by forging the payees and depositing money using the bank’s app on her phone or at an ATM.

During a search of her home, Hayes was found to be in possession of the following stolen items:

• A $1 bill dating from 1917 with a sticky note listing a value of $675
• A $100 bill dating from 1914 valued at $1,500
• A $10 Confederate States of America bill
• $5 gold piece with sticky note listing a value of $1,600
• Various gold pieces
• A $2,599 U.S. Treasury check payable to a victim

Hayes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23, and she faces up to five years in federal prison on the theft charge and 15 years for the unlawful transfer charge.