Postal service chief accused of stealing sports cards

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Mickey Mantle. Magic Johnson. Jerry Rice.

They were among the sports icons who appear on cards worth thousands of dollars that a U.S. Postal Service supervisor is accused of stealing from the mail. The cards were sold by that worker last year in a Westchester County sports memorabilia store, according a federal complaint unsealed Thursday.

John Bu, 38, has been charged with one count of possessing stolen mail, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. He was arrested Thursday and appeared in White Plains federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy. He was released on $25,000 bond and is due back in court June 18.

Bu's attorney did not respond to a request for comment. It was not clear where Bu lives. He's accused of having the pilfered cards and selling them in November to a person working in the unnamed shop, the complaint says.

The cards, belonging to "Victim-1," were taken from several packages mailed from Brooklyn mail collection boxes to a Texas company that evaluates sports cards and provides serial numbers for them, according to the complaint.

The first package was delivered and returned missing a card purchased by the victim for $1,538.37. The second package contained 13 cards — including those of Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, the Los Angeles Lakers point guard Johnson and Hall of Fame wide receiver Rice — and was never received by the Texas company. Another package with two cards featuring New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle was also mailed, but the complaint doesn't say what happened to it.

Bu, who started working for the USPS in 1999, was identified as having sold cards, matching the descriptions of those stolen, for $6,250 to a person working at a Westchester store. The name of that business was not made available.

The sales happened on two separate dates in November, according the complaint.

Bu was interviewed by a special agent with the USPS and admitted to purchasing the sports cards from a person identified as his former supervisor, who was arrested in July 2011 and charged with stealing items from the mail.