Skehan receives 30-day sentence

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — A long time postal employee, who was charged with stealing prescription medications sent to veterans through the mail system, was sentenced Wednesday morning to 30 days in jail and fined $350.
    Joseph Skehan, 57, of Houlton turned himself in to police Thursday morning to begin serving his sentence in the Aroostook County Jail. Justice E. Allen Hunter handed down the sentence. Skehan reportedly apologized to the veterans from whom he had taken medication, which may have played a role in the more lenient sentence.
    Officer Kristin Calaman of the Houlton Police Department arrested Skehan Feb. 14 for stealing drugs. Skehan is a 32-year veteran of the United States Postal Service and the thefts allegedly occurred at the Houlton Post Office between July and October of 2010. Skehan was charged with five counts of stealing drugs, all of which occurred during times that he was employed as a postal worker. Police identified three victims.
    According to Skehan’s attorney Mike Carpenter, the state agreed to the plea agreement, despite the nature of the offense, because Skehan had no prior criminal background. The charge of stealing drugs was dismissed, while he agreed to plead guilty to the charge of possession of oxycodone — a Class C crime. A Class C felony is punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 fine. He received a deferred disposition for that crime, which means if Skehan follows the conditions of his release for one year, he can avoid the felony charge appearing on his record. The conditions of his release include refraining from alcohol, drugs and any other criminal activity.
    Skehan, who is a former leader for the Houlton Elks Lodge,  also pled guilty to theft of vitamins, for which he received the 30-day sentence. One of the mail packages that were taken from the Houlton Post Office contained vitamins.
    According to Tom Rizzo, spokesman for the United States Post Office Northern New England region, Skehan is no longer employed by the Postal Service. He could not comment further on the matter.
    At the time of his arrest, Skehan was in possession of 26 oxycodone and eight hydrocodone pills that were not his, police said. He was also charged with unlawful possession of a schedule W drug, which is also a Class C felony. The medications belonged to a close family member and were not removed from the post office.
    According to Houlton Police Chief Butch Asselin, the thefts were first reported to police in July of 2010. Skehan was a suspect in the thefts since October, according to police. Officer Calaman contacted the U.S. Postal Inspection Service after the local department on Oct. 2, 2010 received a complaint. An agent, Jeffrey Taylor, was assigned to the case and worked closely with Officer Calaman to identify a suspect, collect evidence and build a criminal case. Skehan’s activities at the post office were periodically monitored, at an undisclosed location, using video surveillance.
    All of the medications allegedly stolen were hydrocodone.
    The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) mailed the packages to veterans in the Houlton area. They were either mailed from Togus or from a facility in Memphis, Tenn. Once the packages arrived at the post office from the VHA, they would be scanned as being delivered and a notice placed in the addressee’s PO Box. The recipient would then take the notice to the service desk and receive his medication, police said.
    “Mr. Skehan arrived for work at approximately 5 a.m. and was in a position to sort the morning’s incoming mail,” Asselin said. “He would observe the packages sent from the VHA, scan them, but not place the notices in the addressee’s PO Box.
    Mr. Skehan would then remove the medications from the post office when he went home at 1:45 p.m.”
    In one instance, Asselin said, Skehan opened a box from the VHA that was to be delivered to a rural route customer and emptied the medication from the bottle.
    The empty bottle was then placed back in the damaged box and delivered by the carrier.
    “[We] feel the stolen medications were for Mr. Skehan’s personal use and not being diverted to others,” Asselin said.