Postal worker sentenced for stealing consoles from the mail

Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that a U.S. Postal Service supervisor had been sentenced in a case involving consoles stolen from the mail during the spring.

Zoheb A. Deura, 34, of Derby, Connecticut, was fined $20,000 and sentenced to three years’ probation, the first nine months of which he must serve in home confinement. He pleaded guilty in October to the theft, between February and April 2020, of numerous packages, including ones containing “PlayStation and Nintendo gaming devices,” as well as an Apple iPhone and computer.

Deura also stole packages containing shoes and clothing; after an investigation by the Postal Service’s Inspector General, Deura was charged and pleaded guilty on Oct. 21 to embezzlement of mail by a Postal Service employee. Deura has since resigned from the Postal Service.

Although Deura’s crimes predate the shipment and launch of the PlayStation 5, the news may still resonate with those who have found the console hard to come by. Anecdotal accounts of PS5s stolen in transit surfaced in the news shortly after the console’s launch in early November. Amazon began an investigation in the U.K. after several customers there said their console boxes arrived filled with cat food, appliances, or other junk they hadn’t ordered.