Burlington, Vt. – April Lang, 26, of Essex Junction, Vermont, was sentenced, September 3, 2009, by Chief U.S. District Court Judge, William K. Sessions, III, to twelve months and one day of incarceration followed by three years of supervised release. Lang is to pay $16,856.13 in restitution to her victims.

Court records show that, during July and August of 2007, Lang drove around residential areas of Essex Junction and Williston, Vermont, stealing mail from residential mail boxes. When envelopes with checks were obtained, she washed the checks in dry gas to remove any handwriting in ink, rewriting the checks to make them payable to herself for larger sums of money. She then cashed the checks at the drive-up windows of several local banks by presenting her Vermont driver’s license as proof of identity. Her mail theft was discovered when several area residents discovered that their checking account balances were lower than expected.

Lang was indicted on March 20, 2008 by a federal grand jury. After being served with a summons, Lang was arraigned on May 12, 2008. On September 19, 2008, Lang pled guilty to counts one through four of the indictment charging her with possession of stolen mail.

-Vermont Daily News staff report