FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — A United States Postal Service employee in Fayetteville was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing more than $750,000 in U.S. Treasury checks, federal prosecutors announced Friday. Zerion Marcos Franklin's four-year prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the U.S. Treasury, according to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Federal prosecutors said Franklin was a USPS employee at the mail processing annex in Fayetteville. In June 2024, Fayetteville police conducted a search of his vehicle after they spotted drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop. They discovered 47 U.S. Treasury checks made payable to entities and individuals other than Franklin. The checks were dated between April and May 2023 and included federal tax returns, VA benefits, and Social Security disability benefits. According to federal prosecutors, Fayetteville police also found more than $22,000 in U.S. currency, a loaded 9mm handgun, and marijuana packaged for sale inside Franklin's car. Shortly after the traffic stop, according to federal prosecutors, a victim in New Hanover County reported the theft of her tax refund check. Investigators learned the check was stolen from the mail stream, altered to be paid to Franklin, and cashed at a Walmart in Fayetteville in May 2023. They determined Franklin's theft of U.S. Treasury checks totaled more than $750,000. "Our American postal service is a public trust, staffed with civil servants bound to prioritize the public's interests above personal gain," U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley, Jr. said in a statement. "Most postal employees honor their oath, faithfully delivering billions of parcels every year. "This postal employee is the rare exception, stealing three quarters of a million dollars in U.S. Treasury funds, including tax refunds, from the mail and robbing hardworking American taxpayers in the process," he continued in his statement. "The consequence is clear: steal mail, face prison."