Does it feel like there’s been a lot of stories about U.S. Postal Service mail carriers dumping batches of mail? It’s kind of a big deal when it happens close to a national election, and when there are 99 general election ballots delivered into trash bins instead of mailboxes, well, federal authorities tend to get involved. And they bring badges and guns and handcuffs with them.
Twenty-six-year-old Nicholas Beauchene of Kearny, New Jersey, found that out personally, as he’s been charged with “one count of delay, secretion, or detention of mail and one count of obstructing mail,” a Department of Justice statement read. There were approximately 1,875 pieces of mail total, including a couple of certified letters and more than 270 flyers for local candidates running for the West Orange Town Council and Board of Education.
“The recovered mail was placed back into the mail stream for delivery to its intended recipients. Copies of the recovered mail were made and retained as evidence,” the statement added.
Next up for Beauchene is an appearance in federal court Wednesday, where he will face U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor. The DOJ statement laid out the potential punishment Beauchene faces, which includes up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for one charge, and a $5,000 fine for the other.
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