PORTLAND – U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Desrosiers has investigated numerous criminal cases leading to hundreds of convictions over his 14 years on the job in Maine.

Virtually all of them resulted in guilty pleas. In one case, a judge found the defendant guilty. His first case to go to a jury trial ended the same way last week — with a conviction.

“I don’t know if it’s happenstance or good investigations,” the 52-year-old Desrosiers said of his record.

Postal inspectors investigate mail fraud, mail theft, identity theft, post office burglaries and instances where bombs, drugs or child pornography are sent through the mail. About 1,400 postal inspectors are stationed throughout the country, including two in Maine.

Desrosiers has been a postal inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for 23 years, first in Minnesota and then Texas before coming to Maine in 1996.

Desrosiers has testified before federal grand juries before, but found himself testifying before a trial jury last week for the first time in his career.

Charles Stergios, 26, of Brunswick chose to face a jury rather than waive his right to a jury trial or plead guilty on mail fraud and bank fraud charges. Stergios is expected to be sentenced this fall.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says 14 years is a long time to go without having a case decided by a jury, although it’s not unheard of.

 


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