Raleigh Mailman Admits Holding Junk Mail




RALEIGH -- A former Raleigh mailman has admitted he kept people's junk mail in storage bins in his garage or buried in his back yard.

Steven Padgett, 58, pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to delaying the mail.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he's sentenced in November. He would not talk to reporters after his guilty plea.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Padgett said he kept thousands of pieces of third-class mail instead of delivering them on his route in Apex.

Padgett's attorney, Andrew McCoppin, said his client kept the mail because he was overwhelmed by the daily demands to deliver and collect mail on the strict schedule required by the U.S. Postal Service.

Postal agents have not found any first-or second-class mail at Padgett's home.

Geez, it takes all kinds.

How strange.

Seriously, ugh, this guy probably has my big envelope of coupons that my sister mailed me buried in his yard!

Well, it does specifically say that no 1st or 2nd class mail was found, though he could have disposed of that elsewhere, in theory. It sounds as if he was just delivering the actual letters/bills and all 'junk mail' like flyers, "Current Resident" "Smart Shopper" "Our Neighbor" addressed stuff he wasn't delivering. Still a federal crime, and horrible, but it doesn't sound like he was actually keeping letters/packages.

Just a clarification, not a justification.

I can't see how sorting it and burying it in the back yard was actually LESS work than delivering it though.

Thanks, CM.

This post was a joke....not meant to be taken seriously...I was joking about our trades being buried in this man's backyard!

Wouldn't that take more time (or at least the same amount of time) to sort out the "junk" then just dropping it off?

Well, one of our mail people puts all the mail in his trunk! I really think some of my coupons are lost in his car!

If he was going to dump it, why not burn it??? This way no one would have ever found it, or get rid of it at the dump??? Not too brite now was he???

Well its funny and its not funny because we had a mailman in the northern burbs who actually did not feel like delivering the mail and after about a year we (at work) received all the mail that we had sent out a year before. Its not funny when you are trying to plan an event and the invites get "lost" in the mail. Ugh

OK...the part that I meant to be funny was the trades thing! I understand that there was no 1st and 2nd class mail found. And I understand as well, that it is not funny when mail gets lost.

That was my thought to! Although I have to say when I burn dinner it doesn't disappear.

CM_ I understand your post and think it funny in that respect. But............

Let's cut the guy some slack. Remember all the postal employees (and other employees of factories, etc.) who have been stressed out, overwhelmed, inundated, etc. by the cares and worries of every day living and then on top of it their jobs are a constant strain. (some have made different headlines - headlines that include shootings, etc.) Sure, what he did was wrong. He should have appealed for help, but perhaps he was afraid of losing his job. He should not have done what he did. But remember, we are all a "flare up" or pressure point away from doing what is unseemly.

So let's just hope my postal delivery person delivers all my mail. You guys can worry about yours. As for this fellow, I pity him and I hope his family doesn't suffer because of his miss judgment of what he should do.