Postal carrier tosses 1,200 pieces of mail in dumpster, stops going to work, feds say
.jpg "A Virginia man pleaded guilty in connection with throwing pieces of mail in the trash, feds say.")
A mail carrier was seen tossing boxes of mail into a dumpster and then never arrived for work the next day in Virginia, federal prosecutors said.
The man, who worked for the U.S. Postal Service, trashed 1,296 pieces of first-class and pre-sorted mail that he was supposed to deliver on his route Dec. 9, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
He also left his USPS satchel on the porch of his home in Hampton — with a note saying “for the mail carrier,” prosecutors said.
Afterward, he stopped coming to work at the Newport News Post Office, according to court documents.
The man, 31, has pleaded guilty to destroying mail, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
His attorneys didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment Sept. 20.
A few days after prosecutors said the man trashed the mail, a USPS customer service supervisor recovered the mail from the dumpster in the area of Forest Lake Court on Dec. 11.
A USPS customer had seen someone who looked like the man dumping the mail in the trash on Dec. 9, according to court documents. The customer took a picture of a postal vehicle next to the dumpster, and the vehicle “matched the description” of what the man was driving, court documents say.
Suspected crimes involving mail, including fraud, theft and USPS employees, can be reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
This story was originally published September 20, 2024 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Postal carrier tosses 1,200 pieces of mail in dumpster, stops going to work, feds say."
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