DICKINSON — The former postmaster of the city’s U.S. Post Office faces criminal charges alleging she arranged for her husband to win a custodial-services contract for the facility.

Houston resident Linda Schultz, 51, is free after posting bonds totaling $12,000. She faces charges of securing execution of a document by deception and theft by a public servant.

Richard Francois, of the U.S. Postal Service’s office of the inspector general in Houston, began an investigation last year after reports that building custodians were receiving pay for hours and days they hadn’t worked.

Francois declined to discuss the case, referring questions to the agency’s public information office in Washington, D.C., which could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

However, court records assert that Francois determined the custodians in question worked for B&B Maintenance, a company owned by Schultz’s husband.

Also in the case file is a letter to Postal Service purchasing specialist Richard Galvan, with Schultz’s name at the bottom. The letter gives a different, false name for the contractor’s owner, court officials allege.

Francois also reportedly found bills for light bulbs and other items for which the Postal Service paid what an affidavit called “excessive” prices.

The total amount alleged as stolen in the case is $32,723.

The investigation also led to the discovery of the apparent theft of $1,100 from the Dickinson branch to pay custodial workers.

Schultz also stands accused of providing investigators a fabricated document purporting to show she was no longer married to the contractor.

The document-by-deception charge carries a possible prison term of two to 10 years, as well as a fine of up to $10,000. The theft charge carries a possible jail term of up to a year and a fine of up to $4,000.