Cheswick man sentenced for stealing stamps to pay drug debt
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A former Cheswick resident was sentenced in federal court to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay $37,590 in restitution for a stamp theft scheme to pay a debt he owed to a drug dealer.
U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan imposed the sentence on John Martell, 39.
According to information presented to the court, in 2018, Martell and codefendant Holly Lovasik, a former U.S. Postal Service employee, purchased $34,800 in stamps using checks written on closed accounts. They also used checks belonging to two deceased doctors that were falsely altered, completed and signed.
Martell and Lovasik then sold the stamps for cash, mainly at a Tarentum pawn shop.
In addition to the stamp theft, the post office incurred $2,790 in check surcharges for a total loss of $37,590.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office had no word on sentencing for Lovasik.