Special agents with the US Postal Service discovered undelivered mail in trash bags placed on the curb for pickup outside the home of a postal employee in Baldwin, Pennsylvania.
The agents with Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General were responding to a report about undelivered mail on Sunday outside the employee’s home. The employee works at the Mount Oliver post office, according to a statement from Postal Service.
“USPS OIG Special Agents recovered several different classes of mail, including business mail, flats, and small amount of first class mail,” Special Agent Scott Balfour told CNN in a statement. “We expect to perform a piece count of the mail today, and make arrangements to have to mail delivered to customers as soon as feasible.”
The employee was not named in the statement, but Balfour said he is currently on a non-duty and non-pay status.
“Once USPS OIG special agents conclude their investigation, the case will be presented for federal prosecution to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” he said.
Balfour noted that the Postal Service has 630,000 employees and the majority are “hard-working, trustworthy individuals” who work around the clock to deliver the nation’s mail. “Incidents of this nature are exceedingly rare when put into that context,” he said.
Baldwin is a suburb of Pittsburgh while Mount Oliver is a small town that is completely surrounded the Pittsburgh city limits.
Last week, the Justice Department charged a mail carrier in New Jersey for dumping mail.
According to a DOJ statement, 26-year-old Nicholas Beauchene was arrested and charged with one count of delay of mail and one of obstruction of mail. If found guilty of both charges, he faces up to five years and six months in prison and a $255,000 fine.
Court documents say that Beauchene has worked for the Postal Service since July. He’s accused of dumping 1,875 pieces of mail in two dumpsters, one in North Arlington and the other in West Orange.
The mail in the North Arlington dumpster contained 98 general election ballots; mail found in the West Orange dumpster had one general election ballot. All of the mail, according to the DOJ, was eventually delivered.
Howard Dinger, a North Arlington resident, told CNN he found the mail sitting in a North Arlington dumpster, wrapped with rubber bands on October 2. He said he discovered it while throwing out his own trash and immediately called police.
CNN has reached out to Beauchene for comment. The New Jersey State Association of Letter Carriers union had no comment.
CNN’s Paul Murphy contributed to this report.
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