BOSTON, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A Malden man was convicted
Friday in federal court of mail fraud and making false statements to a federal
agency.
    United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, Robert L. Panella, Assistant
Special Agent In Charge of the Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud
Investigations of The United States Department of Labor's Office of Inspector
General's Boston Division, and Peter Zegarac, Inspector In Charge of the
United States Postal Inspection Services Boston Division, announced today that
RICHARD M. SHIPLEY, age 44, of 13 Springdale Street, Malden, was convicted by
a jury sitting before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf of mail
fraud and making false statements to a federal agency.
    Evidence presented during the two day trial proved that RICHARD SHIPLEY
defrauded the United States by concealing from the U.S. Department of Labor's
Office of Workers Compensation Program, the fact that he worked for and
received compensation from RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Malden, MA, while
receiving workers compensation for an alleged total disability he suffered on
his federal job.  SHIPLEY was a postal letter carrier from 1992 to the present
and made his claim for total disability in 2004.    Pursuant to the Federal
Employees Compensation Act, SHIPLEY received monthly disability compensation
at a rate of 75% of his full-time pay as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier.
At the same time, SHIPLEY was working at RE/MAX as a real estate broker.
    Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf scheduled sentencing for May 30, 2006.  SHIPLEY
faces up to 20 years imprisonment, to be followed by up to five years of
supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
    The case was investigated by the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector
General, Office of Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  It
is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian T. Kelly and Sabita
Singh of Sullivan's Public Corruption Unit.

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