Former Poplar Bluff Postal Worker Pleads Guilty to Stealing Rebates and Receipts
Ron Harty, a 44-year-old former postal worker in Poplar Bluff, entered a guilty plea before the U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau for a single count of postal employee mail theft alongside one count of possessing stolen mail.
At the time of the offenses, Harty worked as the lead sales and service associate at the Poplar Bluff Post Office in Butler County and also worked at the Williamsville Post Office in Wayne County. Investigators found that on August 15, 2025, Harty used rebate checks from four victims totaling $280.95 to purchase a fire pit and 110 patio blocks from the home improvement store Menards. Out of a $64.05 rebate check issued in his own name that he also utilized, 88% originated from five individuals who had sent their store receipts to Menards for rebates, only for Harty to seize the mail instead. An investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service revealed six other victims who sent in nine receipts that Harty intercepted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Shelton is prosecuting the case. Harty, a resident of Butler County, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 9, 2027. Maximum penalties for each charge include up to five years behind bars, a financial penalty reaching $250,000, or a combination of both.
The Poplar Bluff case follows a separate federal case involving mail theft of store rebates. Dawn Dowling, a 59-year-old former rural carrier associate assigned to routes in central Missouri including Moberly, Huntsville, Cairo, Higbee, Jacksonville, and Excello, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of embezzlement of mail by a Postal Service employee. Dowling admitted to taking Menards rebates from the mail between July 2023 and August 2023, totaling at least $1,131 from at least 20 customers, which she spent or caused to be spent at Menards stores in Missouri and Illinois. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf is prosecuting the case. Dowling is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2025, and faces a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
