Two U.S postal workers were arrested earlier this month in Pennsylvania after bags of undiscovered mail were discovered in the trash. One of the employees was spotted by a neighbor removing the undelivered mail from his mail truck. Sean Trosech, 48, and James McLenigan, 29, were each charged in two separate cases in Federal Court.
Trosech was spotted in Mount Olive Pennsylvania taken bags of mail from the rear of his truck and putting it into garbage bags. Federal agents then responded to his home in Baldwin Pennsylvania where they discovered the bags of trash outside his home on the curb. He was arrested and charged with delay or destruction of mail by a postal employee.
Federal agents did inventory at the Post office in Mount Olive and found missing mail in Trosech’s car and recovered 314 first-class mail items, seven items of certified mail, and 1,311 items of political advertisements. No ballots were found, although one application request for a mail ballot was found. If convicted, he could face a possible maximum sentence of five years and a $250,000 fine.
McLenigan, who works in the Pittsburgh area Bloomfield station, was spotted on video taking mail bags from his vehicle and dumping them into a trash bin outside the Persad Center, a mental health center serving the community in the Pittsburgh area. An employee from the center was able to recover the mail from garbage and reported the incident to authorities. Federal authorities responded to the facility and did inventory and found 75 items of first-class mail and 25 items of political advertisements and campaign mail. No mail-in ballots were found, though another request for a mail-in ballot was found.
Pennsylvania is a key state in the 2020 election, and the very outcome of the election may come down to the Keystone State. If convicted, McLenigan also faces a maximum five-year sentence and a $250,000 fine. “During this election season, the integrity of the mail is more important than ever,” U.S Attorney Scott W. Brady said in a statement following the arrest.
“When any public employee including a mail-carrier violates the law we will respond quickly. These carriers each attended to destroy mail, including both political advertisements and an application for a mail-in ballot. Anyone who would obstruct or delay United States mail that includes election-related material should know that the Department of Justice will take quick effective action against them.”
