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A former Royal Mail employee who stole 23 packages containing sportswear from the Gloucester depot of Parcel Force has been jailed.
Alan Orzechowski, 27, of Clement Street, Gloucester,was taking high value clothing and selling it to order – he even sent out messages on his mobile phone advertising what he had to offer, Cheltenham Magistrates were told.
Prosecutor Graham Dono said that Orzechowski had ‘breached the public trust in the country’s postal system.’
Read more: ‘Callous’ man admits posing as police officers to scam elderly Gloucestershire residents
“Orzechowski worked for Parcel Force as a loader, having started his employment with the company in March 2020. But on August 18 his manager, Catherine O’Connell walked out into the yard and saw him acting suspiciously. It looked to her as if he had thrown or dropped something,” said the prosecutor.
“Ms O’Connell went to get a closer look at what he was doing and she found Orzechowski’s personal rucksack in the loading bay in contravention of the company’s rule prohibiting staff from having their own property in this area to prevent theft.
“The manager seized Orzechowski’s bag and found inside it three pairs of new Adidas trainers and a designer bra. She challenged him over this and he responded ‘Please don’t do this’. He admitted stealing these items from the ‘returns’ boxes.
“The police were called and Orzechowski was subsequently arrested. His manager explained to the police that they had an increase of theft from the lorries that he had been assigned to.
“A search was also carried out at Orzechowski’s home address at which a further 19 items, mostly designer branded goods, were located and seized.”
The court was told that his phone was also seized and was found to contain a number of messages relating to Orzechowski’s ability to obtain items from his workplace. He stated that her could can obtain designer sportswear. He sent a message to one person stating that he wanted £200 for a pair of Adidas trainers.
“Orzechowski was effectively stealing items to order and selling them for profit,” said Mr Dono. “Orzechowski was offering sportswear for sale to family and friends. He also stated that he could only get certain brands depending on which bay he was working at on any particular day.”
During his first interview Orzechowski admitted the theft of the trainers in his rucksack but stated the other sportswear items found in his property were his, having purchased them – but he could not provide receipts.
“During a second interview Orzechowski admitted that the 19 items had also been stolen from his workplace. This was a breach of trust. These items were branded goods which command a high retail price.”
The stolen items recovered from Orzechowski’s home included a grey Adidas jacket, three pairs of Navy blue Reebok leggings, four pairs of black Adidas shorts, a white Adidas jacket, a pair of black Adidas joggers, black Adidas swimming costume, pink Adidas hoodie and a pink Adidas swimming costume, a black Adidas cropped hoodie, a pair of lime green Tommy Hilfiger shorts, a Reebok swimming costume, a black Calvin Klein sweatshirt, a pair of Adidas trainers, two specialist sports bras and one pair of Adidas leggings.
At an earlier hearing the court was told that Orzechowski was having financial problems in trying to support his family and that the items stolen were predominately for him and his wider family members and not for general resale.
Orzechowski, who was unrepresented at this hearing, offered no excuse for his offending and did not offer any explanation for his actions but stated that he had subsequently lost his job with the Royal Mail.
Orzechowski pleaded guilty to theft by employee on August 18, 2020 by stealing two adult pairs of Adidas trainers two pairs of children’s Adidas trainers, a Calvin Klein bra, all belonging to the Royal Mail Group. He also admitted that between March 2, 2020 and August 19, 2020 stole 19 items of sportswear including jackets, swimming costumes, trainers and designer sweat shirts, all belonging to the Royal Mail Group.
District Judge Nicholas Wattam told Orzechowski: “You’ve shown little remorse over your offending. It is clear to me that you wanted to make money and you did this by selecting high value items from the Royal Mail.
“As an employee, this was a breach of trust and had you not been caught, I’m sure you would have carried on. The impact of incidents like this on the postal service is significant.
“People rely on a safe and secure postal service and in my opinion this offending is so serious that only a prison sentence can be justified. I am unable to suspend this sentence.”
The judge sentenced Orzechowski to 12 weeks in prison and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £128 on his release.
