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Friday, Oct. 16, 2020

Were two Pennsylvania mail carriers charged with throwing mail in the trash?

Jacob Alabab-Moser, Gigafact Foundry
yes

On Oct. 14, 2020, the U.S. Attorney's Office said it charged two Pittsburgh-area employees of the United States Postal Service with delay or destruction of mail. The first defendant, Sean Troesch, admitted to investigators that he had placed mail intended for delivery on his route into nine trash bags on his curb. A neighbor's photo from two weeks earlier showed additional trash bags on Troesch's curb, suggesting that more mail had already been sent to the landfill. The second defendant, James McLenigan, admitted to throwing mail into multiple trash cans along his route.

The mail that the carriers attempted to destroy contained election-related materials, including two mail-in ballot applications and more than a thousand political advertisements and similar campaign-mail items.

The carriers could face up to five years' imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both, the U.S. Attorney said.

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