BANGOR — A former Temple post office clerk has been sentenced to three months in prison for stealing and spending a prepaid $100 gift card that had been mailed to a Temple resident.

Amanda K. Wentzell, 26, of Augusta, was sentenced Wednesday and ordered to pay $510 in restitution.

She pleaded guilty in May 2017 in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

According to a written statement from Assistant U.S. Attorney F. Todd Lowell, Wentzell was hired as a retail clerk in the Temple post office in February 2016. In July that year, a resident complained that his son had not received a prepaid debit card sent to him via U.S. mail.

The card was intended as a graduation gift.

According to court records, the investigation revealed that Wentzell activated the debit card and used it to make two purchases totaling the value of the card.

According to Lowell, Wentzell admitted she had been “rifling” mail and, between April and August 2016, took and opened several pieces of mail that were being processed by the post office.

She resigned her position on Aug. 9 that year.

Wentzell was originally charged in state court with the gift card theft and, at the time, admitted to seven other thefts of cash and gift cards from incoming and outgoing mail, according to Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr..

The case was later moved to federal court.

The sentence handed down Wednesday also calls for Wentzell to serve three years of federal probation after she is released from prison.

The case was investigated by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General.

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