ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A former Central Florida mailman has agreed to plea guilty after investigators said he dumped over 1,000 pieces of mail in the woods of an Orlando neighborhood.
In a criminal complaint, investigators said that the postal worker — identified as Ottis McCoy, 19, of Sanford — was delivering mail on his postal route in the Alafaya Woods area of Orlando back in October.
Recommended Videos
However, his manager was later alerted that McCoy may have “disposed” of the mail, as McCoy had a “very large quantity of U.S. Mail to deliver” but managed to finish his route much earlier than expected, the complaint shows.
The manager then checked the GPS device connected to McCoy’s work vehicle, discovering that he’d deviated from his route by turning down Faberge Drive and Lalique Lane, investigators added.
After the incident was reported, a postal inspector responded to the area where McCoy had reportedly deviated from his route, finding a bunch of mail that had been scattered in the wooded area nearby.
“Inspectors collected the U.S. Mail and discovered more than 1,000 pieces of U.S. Mail, including more than 400 pieces of political mail and one election ballot,” the complaint reads.
Investigators explained that a nearby home had a surveillance camera, which captured footage of what happened.
According to the complaint, that footage showed McCoy arriving at the wooded area just after 5:14 p.m. on Oct. 22, and the video revealed that McCoy had thrown “large quantities of U.S. Mail” into the woods.
As a result, McCoy was arrested and charged with mail theft, though court documents filed last week show that McCoy has agreed to plead guilty to mail obstruction.
If found guilty of the charge, McCoy faces up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: