A Buffalo, New York, United States Postal Service employee was arrested Tuesday while crossing the Canadian border with hundreds of undelivered mail items including several mail-in ballots, The Buffalo News reports.
According to the newspaper, Brandon Wilson, 27, had over 800 pieces of mail in his truck that he didn’t deliver. He claimed he was on the bridge between the U.S. and Canada by accident.
Authorities told the newspaper that Customs and Border Protection found a mail bin filled with three absentee ballots from the Eerie County Board of Elections and mail from several zip codes.
He told CBP agents he ended up on the bridge because he was in the wrong lane while driving in on I-190. He said the mail was for his mother, but was not able to explain to agents why the names on the packages were different.
Later, he told the Postal Service Office of Inspector General that he was taking mail from his delivery route and putting it in his car. He said he didn’t know he had three absentee ballots in his possession.
“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.”
Court documents show he has been charged with delaying or destroying mail. If convicted, he could face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
*story by NewsMax