Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or 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 Postal Service 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
Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee in any post office or station thereof, for the purpose of increasing the emoluments or compensation of his office, induces, or attempts to induce, any person to deposit mail matter in, or forward in any manner for mailing at, the office where such officer or employee is employed, knowing such matter to be properly mailable at another post office—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
June 25, 1948, ch. 64562 Stat. 780Pub. L. 91–375, § 6(j)(22)84 Stat. 779Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(G)108 Stat. 2147(, ; , , ; , , .)
Historical and Revision Notes
section 172 of title 39Aug. 4, 1886, ch. 901, § 324 Stat. 221Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 20635 Stat. 1128June 10, 1921, ch. 18, § 30442 Stat. 24Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 329 and on , U.S.C., 1940 ed., The Postal Service (, ; , ; , ).
Said sections were consolidated.
section 172 of title 39section 172 of Title 39section 329 of Title 18The texts of the two sections were substantially identical except that said , U.S.C., 1940 ed., provided that “whenever, upon evidence deemed satisfactory to him, the Postmaster General shall determine that any such false return has been made, he may, by order, fix absolutely the compensation of the postmaster for such special delivery during any quarter or quarters which he shall deem affected by such false return, and the General Accounting Office shall adjust the postmaster’s account accordingly”, the words “General Accounting Office” having been substituted for “Auditor” on the authority of the act of , shown in the credits above. This particular language was omitted because such powers and duties as it prescribes would devolve upon the Postmaster General without legislation and also because said , which was derived from the act of , shown in the credits above, was impliedly repealed by the general repealing clause of section 341 of the Criminal Code of 1909. Section 208 of that Code contained the provisions which formed the basis for said .
section 329 of title 18section 2 of this titleReference in said , U.S.C., 1940 ed., to persons assisting, causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in .
Minor verbal changes were made.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
Pub. L. 103–3221994— substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $500” in last par.
Pub. L. 91–3751970— substituted “Postal Service officer or employee” for “postmaster or Postal Service employee” and “Postal Service” for “Post Office Department” after “rules or regulations of the” in first par. and “Postal Service officer or employee” and “officer or employee” for “postmaster or employee” and “postmaster or other person” in second par., respectively.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 1970 Amendment
Pub. L. 91–375section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375section 101 of Title 39Amendment by effective within 1 year after , on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see , set out as an Effective Date note preceding , Postal Service.