Former Postal Worker Pleads Guilty To Failing To Deliver Over 700 Pieces Of Mail Which Included Three Absentee Ballots

1/4/2021 BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Brandon Wilson, 27, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy to delay or destruction of U.S. Mail. The charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura A. Higgins, who is handling the case, stated that on November 3, 2020, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers encountered the defendant, an employee of the United States Postal Service (USPS) at the time, at the Peace Bridge Port of Entry. In the trunk of Wilson’s vehicle, officers found 701 mailings, and a USPS employee uniform and employee identification badge. The mailings included three (3) official absentee ballots mailed from the Board of Elections to voters, 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 following zip codes: 14227, 14211, 14214, with a majority destined for 14215. The cancellation dates on the first class mailings were between September 16 and October 26, 2020.

When asked by officers about the mailings in his trunk, the defendant initially stated they belonged to him and his mother. When confronted with the destination names and addresses, Wilson admitted that he was a USPS postal carrier who kept custody of the mailings after failing to complete his delivery route.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kenneth Cleevely, Eastern Area Field Office, Pittsburgh, PA, and Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Director of Field Operations, Rose Brophy.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 6, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. before Magistrate Judge McCarthy.

Previous article on Postal Workers arrest:

An upstate USPS employee was arrested Tuesday while crossing the US-Canada border with hundreds of envelopes and other undelivered mail — including several absentee ballots.

The Buffalo mailman, who was caught with over 800 pieces of mail inside his trunk that he had failed to deliver, said he had ended up on a bridge between the US and its neighbor to the north by accident, the Buffalo News reported.

Customs and Border Protection found a huge bin of mail spanning several zip codes in the vehicle. Among them were three absentee ballots from the Erie County Board of Elections, authorities told the newspaper.

Brandon Wilson, 27, told CBP agents he was in the wrong lane while traveling on Interstate 190 and accidentally wound up on the bridge. When pressed, Willson claimed that the mail was for his mother, though he was unable to explain why the names on the packages did not match.

Wilson later admitted in an interview with the Postal Service Office of Inspector General that he had been taking mail from his delivery route and putting it in his car.

“Beginning in September 2020, Wilson estimated he placed mail from his delivery routes into the trunk of his vehicle on more than four but less than 10 instances after returning to the post office from his assigned route,” special agent Brendan M. Boone wrote in a report.

“Wilson intended to whittle down the amount of mail in the trunk of his vehicle by placing a small amount of the mail into USPS missort containers in the morning before his shift began. Wilson last reintroduced mailings into the mail stream in this fashion approximately three weeks prior [to] the date of the interview.”