Saturday, March 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Ralph M. Barragan, 26, a former Los Angeles resident, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith. He will also be required to pay full restitution, spend three years under supervised release and take part in a 500-hour alcohol abuse program.
Authorities said Barragan had no permanent address and had used at least eight other names. He was arrested last September at the Hickman Mills post office after buying or trying to buy stamps at four other post offices in the Kansas City area.
He pleaded guilty in October to one count of theft of federal property. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Whitworth said that while that count involved only the theft of $800 worth of stamps from one Kansas City post office, he admitted to a series of nearly identical fraudulent purchases in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington.
Whitworth said a stamp dealer in Topeka, Kan., had told authorities in September that a man had tried to sell him 100 rolls of stamps at 80 percent of their value. Whitworth said that report tipped investigators to Barragan's presence in the Kansas City area.
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