Former Greece Post Office manager who stole drugs from mail pleads guilty to drug, gun charges

A former postal manager in Greece who stole drugs from the mail could face as much as 40 years in prison, after having pleaded guilty to drug and gun charges.

Ralph Minni, 54, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa to possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, and possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

Minni used his position as Greece Post Office station manager to steal drugs from the mail multiple times between Mary 2018 and May 2022, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Eldridge, who is handling the case. According to Eldridge, Minni would take parcels containing controlled substances such as marijuana into his private office, remove the drugs, and return the empty packages back into the mail stream. He would take the controlled substances to his home to store them and then redistribute to other people. Three times in March and April 2022, he provided cocaine to a co-worker, who snorted it off Minni’s office desk in his presence.

On May 2, 2022, investigators executed a search warrant at Minni’s residence and found marijuana, about 700 grams of cocaine, about 40 firearms and over 19,000 rounds of ammunition. Minni was arrested that day after leaving the Greece Post Office. Officers found marijuana he had taken from the mail in his vehicle.

The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine.

The FBI, U.S. Postal Service, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated, with help from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Greece Police Department; and the New York State Police.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 13 at 9:15 a.m. before Judge Siragusa.