USPS Worker Arrested, Accused Of Discarding Ballots & Election Mail
A United States Postal Service worker has been arrested and charged with discarding more than 1,000 pieces of mail, including ballots and political campaign mailers.
Federal authorities on Friday announced that Ottis McCoy, a USPS employee in Orlando, Florida, has been charged with discarding more than 1,000 pieces of mail instead of delivering them along his route on Tuesday. He was charged with stealing, taking or abstracting mail, a criminal offense punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and a maximum of five years in prison.
According to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Friday, U.S. Postal Inspection Service inspector Charles Johnsten observed surveillance footage of McCoy “throwing large quantities of U.S. Mail into [a] wooded lot.” An additional postal worker became suspicious of McCoy when he helped him load up a van with a large quantity of mail, only for him to return much earlier than expected.
Upon examination of a tracking device installed on the van, it was confirmed that McCoy had indeed deviated from his route.
The discarded mail was later discovered in a wooded area of Orlando located not far from McCoy’s route. Footage of McCoy dumping the mail was also captured by a nearby doorbell camera, prosecutors said.
“Inspectors collected the U.S. Mail and discovered more than 1000 pieces of U.S. Mail, including more than 400 pieces of political mail and one election ballot,” Johnsten wrote in an affidavit, which was complete with photos of the discarded mail. The affidavit included a photo of at least one absentee ballot, while investigators recovered more than 400 pieces of political mail.
Federal authorities are still combing through the discarded mail and could be filing additional charges against McCoy in the near future. It is unclear whether the USPS employee has obtained legal counsel as of this report.
The latest indictment comes just weeks after a Tennessee postal worker was accused of dumping large quantities of mail into a dumpster rather than delivering them. The worker, DuJuan Butler, was hit with federal charges of unlawfully detaining and delaying mail.
