A former employee working in McCormick Hall was taken into custody by the Postal Inspector earlier this month.

The 45-year-old male was taken into custody on a misdemeanor state theft charge, according to Capt. Russ Shaw, associate director of the Department of Public Safety.

However, Lori Groen, a postal inspector, said there was an investigation but the man has not been officially charged, so his name could not be released.

The Postal Inspector came to Marquette Jan. 12 to pick up the individual and actually caught him in the act, Shaw said. Details surrounding his apprehension could not be released.

The man's employment at Marquette has since been terminated, Shaw said.

DPS began investigating missing mail in McCormick after a story appeared in The Marquette Tribune Nov. 9, Shaw said. The story addressed a few incidents of mail not being delivered to students living in the residence hall.

"We saw the Tribune article and thought we better look into this," Shaw said. "No victims had come forward (to DPS), so we pursued the matter."

A formal investigation followed the story's publication and DPS began collecting reports from students who experienced problems receiving mail.

During the investigation, 86 reports of problems with mail surfaced. Each report dealt with some type of piece of mail missing between Oct. 18 and Nov. 2 from McCormick residents.

"We never saw anything like this," Shaw said. "Nothing of this magnitude."

The compiled reports were then turned over to the Postal Inspector, who joined in the investigation and took the employee into custody earlier this month. The former employee was taken into custody under the premise of at least one confirmed piece of mail being taken, Shaw said.

Stephen Duffy, associate vice president of Human Resources, said he was not able to offer comments about the former employee's work history or if he had any earlier conduct problems. Shaw said DPS had no prior contact with the individual.

Mary George, a freshman in the College of Health Sciences, is one of the students whose mail was undelivered.

She expected three pieces of mail from her family during the first month of school. When she did not receive her mail, she inquired in the mailroom at McCormick and was told there had been problems recently with the mail.

George said she has not had any problems receiving mail recently.

Shaw said there have been no recent complaints and that the investigation is ongoing.

According to Shaw, the Office of Residence Life is looking into how to prevent this type of situation from recurring.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 27 2005.