Postal Service alleges mail fraud in water purification system sales. (Allied Treatment Inc.)

Postal Service alleges mail fraud in water purification system sales

The U.S. Postal Service has sued a Dallas mail-order firm believed by law enforcement officials to be one of several area businesses using phony prizes to sell water purification systems.

U.S. District Judge Joe Fish granted the Postal Service's request Jan. 5 for a temporary restraining order against Allied Treatment Inc., a company postal inspectors say may have been collecting more than $25,000 a day through a "lottery scheme."

The restraining order allows postal inspectors to suspend Allied's mail delivery and examine it to determine if the company is engaged in mail fraud.

"We decided what was really being done was a lottery," Postal Inspector Jesse Horton said, adding that …