Postal worker admits to not delivering 210 items

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A former mail carrier is expected to get a sentence of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine for failing to deliver more than 200 pieces of mail.

On June 6, the defendant, Matthew Williams, was pulled over by a Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy because of excessively tinted windows on his car, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.

Williams admitted to the deputy that he had marijuana in the car and he was arrested. When the deputy searched the vehicle, the deputy found 210 piece of undelivered mail with postmarks dated between December 2015 and February 2016.

Initially, Williams claimed he was supposed to deliver the mail on Saturday, June 4, but he couldn’t get the route done on time, so he planned to deliver it first thing on the morning of Monday, June 6.

The undelivered items included a federal income tax refund check, notices from the IRS, legal summonses, utility bills, and medical bills.

Later, Williams told a special agent from the U.S. Postal Service that the items were misaddressed or improperly sorted mail that he forgot to return to the station at the end of his work day, according to court documents.

Williams later admitted he knew the mail was not misaddressed or improperly sorted. He said he did not deliver the mail “because he struggled to complete his route on time.”

On Monday, Williams pleaded guilty to the obstruction of mails, a misdemeanor, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan W. Feldman.