A former United States Postal Service employee pleaded guilty to theft of mail Tuesday, which included thousands of dollars of sports cards sent to a consignment auction house, agreeing to a plea deal that will require him to pay restitution of more than $108,000.
Shelby Dozier, 34, of Bronx, N.Y., was named in a criminal complaint in September, outlining an alleged scheme in which he intercepted valuable packages en route to the consignment service from clients. Dozier began working as a clerk sorting parcels in the Clifton, N.J., post office in August 2022.
The consignment auction house, which is not named, had customers ship parcels containing items for auction to their post office box at the Delawanna Sub-Station Post Office branch. Prior to reaching the Delawanna branch, the packages typically passed through Clifton’s main post office, where Dozier worked and was alleged to have stolen at least 10 packages meant for the consignment auction house.
Among the alleged stolen cards listed in the complaint are two Michael Jordan cards and a Mickey Mantle card (estimated to be worth $4,500), graded NBA cards and Pokémon cards (estimated between $3,000 and $5,000), approximately 25 graded sports cards, including multiple Jordan cards (worth an estimated $6,500 to $8,000), and multiple Connor McDavid and other NHL cards (estimated to be worth $7,500).
Photos included in the complaint include a 1991 Upper Deck Michael Jordan PSA 10, a 2021 Panini Red Prizm Scottie Barnes PSA 9, an autographed and PSA-authenticated Rafael Nadal photo, a 2020 Donruss Optic LaMelo Ball Rated Rookie PSA 10, a Willie Mays autographed card and an autographed Reggie Miller jersey.
The complaint says a review of Dozier’s employee attendance records show he was working on or around the dates the shipments went missing, as well as that other employees found opened and empty packages destined for the Delawanna post office in the men’s locker room.
Phone records cited in court documents show Dozier made calls to companies involved in the sale of cards or memorabilia during the time period the packages went missing. He allegedly sold some of these items to stores, which later resold them “at a fraction of their value.”
Around Nov. 13, 2022, and Dec. 1, 2022, a company paid $10,895 to a cash account tied to Dozier’s relative. Later that December, the same company made out a check to cash for $950 for an “inventory purchase,” which was deposited into the same bank account used by Dozier for his payroll checks two days later.
Dozier “abruptly” left his post around December 2022.
Early last year, law enforcement conducted a search of an iCloud account associated with a given phone number, pursuant to a search warrant, which included information that lined up with dates previously relayed to law enforcement by customers regarding when they met with Dozier and purchased cards.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the theft of mail by a postal employee carries a maximum potential sentence of five years of imprisonment and a maximum fine equal to the greatest of $250,000 or "twice the gross amount of any pecuniary gain that any persons derived from the offense."
Sentencing is scheduled for April 2025.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.