Audit undercovered Kansas postmaster embezzling customer money, feds say
A Wichita woman accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the United States Postal Service while she served as postmaster in a western Kansas town has pleaded guilty, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas announced Tuesday.
Joyce L. Smith, 51, oversaw the post office in Scott City when she embezzled $57,423.41 between January 2023 and February 2025, a news release says.
Prosecutors say Smith used her position as postmaster to embezzle $10,573 in customers’ cash payment, wrote herself $3,715 in postal service money orders and stole $3,388 that customers paid for P.O. boxes. She also failed to record thousands more in regular payments for permits and mass mailing services, including:
- $16,788 from the city of Scott City,
- $5,850 from the Scott County Landfill, and
- $17,108.69 from the local newspaper, the Scott County Record
Those checks are still unaccounted for, prosecutors said.
Smith’s lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
The postal service discovered the thefts in February 2025. An audit conducted at the Scott City Post Office “quickly revealed missing cash deposits, misattribution of customer payments/checks and theft of money orders,” all committed by Smith, her plea agreement says.
Smith told agents from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General that she “began to embezzle money to account for a ‘stock shortage’ discovered during a prior audit,” according to the plea agreement.
She pleaded guilty last week to one count of theft by a government employee, court records show. Lawyers will recommend Smith serve three years of probation and repay all of the stolen money when she is sentenced on Aug. 20, her plea agreement says.
“As postmaster, Joyce Smith likely thought her position would allow her to continue to fill her pockets with money that didn’t belong (to) her without getting caught or facing any consequences,” U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser said in the news release.
“Her behavior reminds us of why audits and other forms of government oversight of financial records are necessary.”
