CAMDEN, N.J. — A former U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier has been convicted of bribery, fraud, and conspiracy charges, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced on Tuesday. Emerson Pavilus, 49, of Union, New Jersey, was found guilty on August 15, 2024, of all three counts in an indictment that charged him with receiving bribes as a public official, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

The jury reached its verdict following a trial before U.S. Circuit Court Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was sitting by designation in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

According to court documents and evidence presented during the trial, Pavilus, while employed as a mail carrier at the Flanders, New Jersey post office, engaged in illegal activities from at least 2015 to 2020. During this time, he accepted cash bribes in exchange for assisting individuals in intercepting packages that contained illegal narcotics and other illicit materials. Pavilus provided his conspirators with addresses of vacant houses along his mail route, to which they could send the illegal packages. He then intercepted these packages from the mail stream and delivered them directly to his conspirators at locations other than the addresses listed on the packages, in return for bribe payments.

The bribery charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain from the offense, or three times the monetary equivalent of the bribe amount, whichever is greater. The conspiracy to defraud the United States charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain from the offense, whichever is greater. The narcotics offense also carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations with leading the investigation that resulted in Pavilus’s conviction.

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