Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 62 Part 1.djvu/810

 780 PUBLIC LAWS--C. 645-JUNE 25, 1948 [62 STAT. Shall be fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; but if the value or face value of any such article or thing does not exceed $100, he shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. § 1709. THEFT OF MAIL MATTER BY POSTMASTER OR EMPLOYEE Whoever, being a postmaster or Postal Service employee embezzles any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail or any article or thing contained therein intrusted to him or which comes into his possession intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier, messenger, agent, or other person employed in any depart- ment of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General; or steals, abstracts, or removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, shall be fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. § 1710. TEFr OF NEWSPAPERS Whoever, being a postmaster or Postal Service employee, takes or steals any newspaper or package of newspapers from any post office or from any person having custody thereof, shall be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. § 1711. MISAPPROPRIATION OF POSTAL FUNDS Whoever, being a postmaster or Postal Service employee, loans, uses, pledges, hypothecates, or converts to his own use, or deposits in any bank, or exchanges for other funds or property, except as authorized by law, any money or property coming into his hands or under his control in any manner, in the execution or under color of his office, employment, or service, whether or not the same shall be the money or property of the United States; or fails or refuses to remit to or deposit in the Treasury of the United States or in a designated depository, or to account for or turn over to the proper officer or agent, any such money or property, when required to do so by law or the regulations of the Post Office Department, or upon demand or order of the Postmaster General either directly or through a duly authorized officer or agent, is guilty of embezzlement; and every such person, as well as every other person advising or know- ingly participating therein, shall be fined in a sum equal to the amount or value of the money or property embezzled or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; but if the amount or value thereof does not exceed $100, he shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. This section shall not prohibit any postmaster from depositing, under the direction of the Postmaster General, in a national bank designated by the Secretary of the Treasury for that purpose, to his own credit as postmaster, any funds in his charge, nor prevent his negotiating drafts or other evidences of debt through such bank, or through United States disbursing officers, or otherwise, when in- structed or required so to do by the Postmaster General, for the purpose of remitting surplus funds from one post office to another. § 1712. FALSIFICATION OF POSTAL RETURNS TO INCREASE COMPENSATION Whoever, being a postmaster or Postal Service employee, makes a false return, statement, or account to any officer of the United States, or makes a false entry in any record, book, or account, required by law or the rules or regulations of the Post Office Department to be kept in respect of the business or operations of any post office or other branch of the Postal Service, for the purpose of fraudulently increasing his compensation or the compensation of the postmaster or any employee in a post office; or

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