In an unsettling development, a USPS employee in Orlando, Florida, has been charged with tossing over 1,000 pieces of mail—including hundreds of political mailers and even an election ballot—into a wooded area instead of delivering them. Federal authorities arrested Ottis McCoy on charges of “stealing, taking, or abstracting” mail, a serious offense that could land him up to five years in prison along with a hefty $250,000 fine.
The scheme came to light when a fellow postal worker noticed something fishy as McCoy returned suspiciously early from his route after loading a large quantity of mail into his delivery van. Investigators reviewed footage of McCoy throwing bags of mail into the woods near his route, and GPS tracking confirmed he had veered off his designated delivery path.
Upon inspection, postal investigators uncovered more than 1,000 pieces of undelivered mail, including over 400 pieces of political mailers and an absentee ballot, crucial pieces of mail intended to inform and enable voters just ahead of an election. Photos from the criminal complaint even show abandoned political fliers and at least one absentee ballot among the scattered debris. With the ongoing investigation, authorities are considering further charges against McCoy, especially if more discarded ballots or politically sensitive mail are identified.
This incident is part of a troubling trend. Just weeks prior, another USPS worker in Tennessee, DuJuan Butler, was accused of dumping large amounts of mail, even posting evidence on his own TikTok account—an error in judgment, to say the least. He now faces similar federal charges, highlighting the USPS’s ongoing struggle to ensure secure and timely mail delivery in the face of individual breaches like these.
The timing of McCoy’s actions couldn’t be worse. As the country inches closer to Election Day, issues around election integrity are at an all-time high. For many voters, mail-in ballots are a critical lifeline to casting their votes. Any disruption or neglect in the mail delivery process directly impacts public confidence in the system. Such incidents feed into broader concerns about the safety and security of mail-in voting, already a hot-button issue.
The USPS has pledged to investigate thoroughly and reinforce accountability measures among employees, but the McCoy case is a harsh reminder of the system’s vulnerabilities. With stakes as high as they are, Americans deserve assurance that their mail—and especially their ballots—will reach its intended destination, safe from mishandling or misconduct.
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