A Brooklyn postal service employee faces criminal charges after authorities discovered that he was delaying and detaining mails he was supposed to deliver.
Kept Undelivered Mails In Car, Work Locker, And Apartment
Aleksey Germash, a US Postal Service employee for 16 years, was arrested after federal authorities found out that he had been hoarding undelivered mail in his car and apartment.
According to court papers, authorities received a tip in April that there was a car in Dyker Heights area, where Germash was assigned, filled with more than 20 blue mail bags.
Germash, a Russian immigrant, admitted that the car, a Nissan Pathfinder, was his. He also said that he had also been keeping mails in his apartment and work locker. The complaint alleges that the mailman had been stockpiling the parcels for 12 years.
Overwhelmed By Amount Of Mails To Be Delivered
Germash said that he would take the mails from work to his apartment. He justified his actions saying that he was overwhelmed by the amount of letters that he needed to deliver and that he made sure the important mails are delivered anyway.
Authorities discovered 10,000 pieces of mail in the Nissan Pathfinder, 1,000 in the locker, and 6,000 at the mailman's apartment. The oldest mail dates back to 2005.
Germash appeared in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday in his postal uniform and was released on a $25,000-bail. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Earlier this month, another mail carrier was also reported to have thrown away thousands of mail.
Paid An Accomplice To Throw Away Thousands Of Mails
Indiana mailman Kristopher Block was accused of paying a man to throw away 11,000 pieces of mail he was supposed to deliver and for hiding another 6,000 pieces of mails at his home.
He was busted following the discovery of multiple tubs of undelivered mail in a ravine in February 2017. Block told police that he brought home the mails that he could not deliver before the end of his shift and paid somebody of his $50 per bundle to burn the mails in Michigan.
Block, who has since resigned from his post office job, said that this went on for months since summer 2016. He turned in to the post office about 6,000 pieces of undelivered mails that he was keeping at home after being questioned by the police.
His accomplice has not yet been located nor formally charged with a crime.
