A United States Postal Service worker has been arrested and charged with disposing of more than 1,000 pieces of election mail, including ballots and political campaign mailers.
USPS employee Ottis McCoy, stationed in Orlando, Florida, was charged with discarding more than 1,000 pieces of mail instead of delivering them to their addresses,
McCoy is charged with stealing, taking, or abstracting mail and faces a fine of up to $250,000 and a maximum of five years in prison.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service inspector Charles Johnsten observed surveillance footage showing McCoy “throwing large quantities of U.S. Mail into [a] wooded lot,” according to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
McCoy raised suspicion after a fellow employee helped him load a van with a large quantity of mail, only for him to return earlier than expected.
After checking the van’s tracking device, it was later confirmed that McCoy had deviated from his route.
The discarded mail was later dumped in a wooded area of Orlando located not far from McCoy’s route.
Prosecutors said that footage from a nearby doorbell camera captured McCoy dumping the mail.
“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,” Johnston wrote in an affidavit, which accompanied photos of the discarded mail.
The affidavit included a photo of at least one absentee ballot, as investigators recovered more than 400 pieces of political mail.
Federal authorities are still investigating the matter and could be filing additional charges against McCoy.
The news comes just weeks after another postal worker was accused of dumping large quantities of mail rather than delivering them to their addresses.
DuJuan Butler was hit with federal charges of unlawfully detaining and delaying mail.
