USPS mail is found dumped at two spots in Glendale, prompting investigation

Colleen Shalby
·1 min read
San Pedro, California,-Aug. 20, 2020-A Los Angeles Postal carrier organizes mail to be delivered on Aug. 20, 2020. United States Postal Workers were offered 12 weeks leave due to the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a backlog of mail that needed to be delivered. Many postal carriers were offered overtime. A lack of enough postal carriers is one of the reasons that the United States Postal Service is behind on delivering mail. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
Piles of unopened USPS mail were found at two locations in Glendale this week. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

Piles of unopened United States Postal Service mail and packages were discovered dumped at two separate locations this week in Glendale, authorities said Friday.

Police responded to a call about 8 a.m. Thursday from the USPS, asking police to assist with a situation involving "possible stolen mail or whatever was dumped in an alleyway," said Glendale Police Sgt. Christian Hauptmann. The second call came about two hours later from a business owner who witnessed a similar incident in a store parking lot not far from the alley.

Security footage obtained by KTLA from outside the 7Q Spa Laser & Aesthetic in the 1600 block of Glenoaks Boulevard shows a Budget rental truck backing into a gate before a man retrieves piles of bags of mail and packages from inside the truck and throws them onto the ground. The parking lot is less than a mile away from the alleyway in the 1000 block of Allen Avenue where the other pile of mail was discovered.

USPS declined to comment on the incident.

"The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the law enforcement, crime prevention and security arm of the Postal Service," spokesperson Evelina Ramirez said. "In order to preserve the integrity of their investigations and to prevent fundamental unfairness to the subjects of those investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not comment on any ongoing investigations."

It's unclear if the two incidents are related. They come as USPS faces national outcry over recent service changes, sparking fears over voter suppression as the Nov. 3 election nears.

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Thursday the state is attempting to reverse the Postal Service's new policies.