Postal worker fined $200 for not delivering mail
May 9—BUFFALO — A former postal worker was fined just $200 for his guilty plea in federal court to failing to deliver mail, including 2020 election absentee ballots.
Brandon Wilson, 27, received the fine during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Buffalo. He had previously entered his plea to a charge of delay or destruction of U.S. mail before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy.
The charge carried a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Federal prosecutors said on Election Day, Nov. 3, Customs and Border Protection officers encountered Wilson on the Peace Bridge. At the time, Wilson was working for the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier.
During an inspection of the trunk of Wilson's vehicle, CPB officers found 701 pieces of mail, a USPS employee uniform and an employee identification badge. The mail included three unmarked absentee ballots, mailed to voters from the Erie County Board of Elections.
Also discovered in the sacks of undelivered mail were 218 first-class mailings, 106 political mailings, 36 regular nonprofit mailings, 305 regular standard mailings, and 33 magazine/catalogue mailings. The mailings were destined for addresses located in the 14227, 14211, 14214 and 14215 zip codes.
A majority of the mail was addressed to the 14215 zip code. The cancellation dates on the first class mailings were between Sept. 16 and Oct. 26.
CBP officers said that when they questioned Wilson about the mail in the trunk of his vehicle, he told them it belonged to him and his mother. However, when the officers pointed out that the names and addresses on the mail did not match Wilson or his mother, he admitted taken the mail after failing to complete his delivery route.
