Minneapolis mail handler may have your Best Buy reward

Best Buy customers who have been waiting for their rewards certificates to arrive in the mail may now know why they have had to wait, and wait -- and wait.

Federal investigators say a Minneapolis-based mail handler pocketed at least 16,000 certificates sent to Best Buy customers, using them to buy merchandise that he sometimes sold to fellow postal employees.

Douglas Parkes, 49, has not been charged with a crime. But a search warrant affidavit filed in federal court last month alleges that from at least December 2006 Parkes stole Reward Zone certificates from the mail and used them to buy more than 1,800 items at Best Buy.

When contacted at his St. Michael home, Parkes, a postal employee since December 1997, refused to talk about the allegations. Best Buy officials, too, declined to comment. A spokesman for the Postal Service said Parkes has been placed on administrative leave.

According to the affidavit, Parkes used eight different member accounts -- none belonging to him -- to make purchases using a combination of Reward Zone certificates, credit cards and cash.

An Oct. 1, 2008, search of his home turned up 371 items, including electronics still in their original packaging. The search also found more than $4,200 in cash and grocery bags filled with approximately 3,000 Best Buy mailings, including empty envelopes, the affidavit said.

Of the 371 items, 213 had the same UPCs as items purchased using stolen Reward Zone certificates, investigators said.

Best Buy staff noticed Parkes repeatedly bought popular items, including seven 37-inch Toshiba LCD televisions, four 42-inch Toshiba Regaza LCD televisions, six 42-inch plasma televisions, 11 PlayStation 3s and 37 iPods, the affidavit said.

In December 2008, agents subpoenaed Parkes' bank records, which showed he rented a storage locker in Otsego. In January investigators requested a warrant to search the locker for hundreds of items that had not yet been recovered, but found only a couple of items, including a VCR/DVD player, according to an inventory sheet.

The affidavit does not estimate the value of the stolen Reward Zone certificates. According to Best Buy's website, customers earn 1 point for each dollar they spend at Best Buy. After earning 250 points, customers receive a $5 Best Buy Reward certificate in the mail. If each of the allegedly stolen certificates was worth $5, the loss to Best Buy and its customers would be about $80,000.

Tripped up

The U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General (OIG) won't confirm an investigation. Neither will the U.S. attorney's office.

According to the affidavit filed Jan. 13 by OIG Special Agent Joseph Schwartz, Best Buy officials contacted postal investigators about Parkes on Sept. 24, 2008.

Reward Zone certificates are sent out from the post office in Little Falls, Minn. Some of that mail is routed to the Minneapolis Processing and Distribution Center. Parkes, in his job as a mail-processing clerk and acting supervisor there, would have direct access to that mail, the affidavit said.

A confidential source at the Minneapolis facility told agents he bought two iPods from Parkes for $150, half their regular price. The iPods were in their original packaging.

According to the affidavit, the source said Parkes had previously sold large-screen televisions to Minneapolis postal employees. Other postal employees who bought merchandise from Parkes have been identified.

Most trustworthy agency

Postal officials say that, given the size and scope of the Postal Service, such allegations are relatively rare.

The U.S. Postal Service is the nation's third-largest employer, with more than 600,000 workers. Last year, the OIG completed more than 7,600 investigations, resulting in nearly 3,700 administrative actions, more than 1,600 arrests or indictments and 769 convictions, said John Masters, assistant special agent in charge of the field office in Vancouver, Wash.

According to a 2009 Privacy Trust Study of the U.S. Government, the Postal Service was deemed the most trustworthy of U.S. government agencies.

"The charge of our special agents is to investigate internal crimes and frauds against the Postal Service," Masters said. "These efforts contribute to safeguarding the Postal Service's revenue and assets and help deter postal crimes."

James Walsh • 612-673-7428