A United States Postal Service employee was charged Oct. 13 in U.S. District Court with stealing cash from greeting cards sent through the mail as they were being processed at the Processing and Distribution Center in Providence.

Robert J. Hart Jr., 49, of Cranston, an employee of the USPS, was released on $10,000 unsecured bond after an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Lincoln D. Almond.

U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Jane Hughes, a special agent in charge of the Northeast area USPS Office of Inspector General, announced the arrest.

According to an affidavit, an investigator from the USPS OIG recovered 106 pieces of rifled mail that had been processed at the Center on Sept. 24 and 25. All of the mail was greeting cards mailed from outside Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The envelopes had been slit open cleanly along the top seam and cash removed from cards that had the hinge of the card face down. Cash was not removed from the cards that had the hinge facing up.

The affidavit said agents from the USPS OIG recovered 97 rifled first class greeting cards processed between Oct. 1 and Oct. 10. None of the recovered mail with the hinge facing down contained cash, consistent with their earlier assessment.

According to the document, USPS OIG agents placed two greeting cards with marked $20 bills in processing trays to be handled by Hart on Oct. 12 and monitored Hart's actions. Hart allegedly took a cutting instrument from his pocket as he worked. The greeting cards placed by agents were slit open and the marked bills removed. Agents said the marked bills were found in Hart’s pocket.

If convicted, Hart faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.