Posted on 04/09/2010 10:47:24 AM PDT by misharu
We have a new postal carrier who started a few weeks ago delivering mail. I have seen her park in a neighbors driveway several times and wondered why she was doing that. Today as I was working from home I saw her park in the driveway, open the gate to the yard, walk in and come back out with some sort of light -- like a torchier. (That was her second trip. I didn't have a good vantage point for the first trip.) So what!? you may ask -- the house is up for sale and has sat empty for deveral months.
I see no reason for her to be anywhere near that house so my question is: Who do I contact for something like this? The Police? The Postal Inspector?
The USPS is a government entity, so I believe it is out of the local police’s jurisdiction.
I just googled “report theft of postal employee” and the first website I got was to the Office of the Inspector General for the Post Office.
You can report your suspicions online. :)
I’d notify the police,being careful to say that she may have a right to be there (relative,friend of owner),but that you are concerned.
Wouldn’t the logical thing be to contact the owners of the house and ask them if their house has been burglarized? Just sayin’ . .
If you know the owner, you might contact him and let him know what you saw.
In addition to at least mentioning this to police for the 'record'; the homeowner should be apprised and/or the real estate Broker handling property.
It was posted that the house has been empty for some time. I didn’t assume that it is known where they are and if they are reachable. By the time they are contacted, it may be too late.
If it were my house, I would want someone to contact the authorities, just in case.
There is no reason for her to be in ANY driveway. Call the Postal Inspection Service. Carriers are not permitted to enter any private house driveway. Doing so would require the driver to back onto the street. A very dangerous maneuver with a LARGE blind spot. They are taught to back only when necessary and they are required to first go look behind them before they do. Something very fishy..perhaps a grow house?
Call or go visit in person the postmaster at the post office that serves this area. It does sound odd but it’s possible there’s a legitimate explanation. There may be abandoned property just sitting on a back porch, exposed to the elements, and if it’s been there for months, I wouldn’t really regard it as a big deal if somebody finally went and helped themselves to some random item of little value that they have a use for — it’s not much different from taking something out of the trash. But to do it while in a postal uniform, while on duty would certainly be against Post Office policy.
If the house is vacant there is a very high likelihood that it is a foreclosure. At which point the bank that owns it is the “victim” of the theft. It has been my experience that they don’t care because they have so many to deal with. I would suggest contacting the Postal Inspectors because this is more than likely a violation of the postal carriers code of conduct.
Maybe she is just looking at the house to buy it? There have been several times where I have shown a flashlight into a for sale house so I could get a feel for what the inside looked like.
If you see her again, why don’t you just ask her?
No. They operate under the same laws anyone else does. If what they are doing is illegal, the local police have jurisdiction.
The homeowner may not be reachable, and it sounds like this might be a foreclosure situation. But contacting the broker/agent would be a good idea. Especially if it's a foreclosure situation, it's possible the letter carrier had contacted the broker and asked if stuff left in back of the house was abandoned and free for the taking, or the letter carrier (who may be new to the area as well as to the route) might possibly have looked at the house as a prospective buyer, and asked the broker if she could have some apparently abandoned item there, and the broker contacted her afterwards to give permission. Even if something like that is what happened, I don't think the Postal Service would allow a letter carrier to do something like this while in uniform and on duty (though if the letter carrier can prove she had permission from the broker/agent, she probably wouldn't get anything more than a verbal reprimand).
Kristine A. Pflughaupt, 46, of Marion, was charged with public intoxication Nov. 3 after she was found sitting on the kitchen floor of a house at 260 Sixth Avenue, eating leftover noodles from Marie O’Kelly’s refrigerator.
I wonder if the postal employee will fill out a census form for that residence...
If they're a minority you can count on it...
Careful. I used to be a carrier and would lunch at my Mothers, My Grandmothers, My Dads houses - whether or not they were home(I was always welcome) -depending on what route I was doing on any particular day.
Nothing crooked going on and most neighbors knew me, but I’m sure it would APPEAR suspicious to others.
All right guys and gals,
Some of us deliver mail, quit the “all USPS letter carriers are bad” in fact we just erected a box for an elderly lady today who didn’t have the means of her own to put it up. I could have been arrested for helping out a customer if some one thought I was stealing her box.
There are some bad people in all of the businesses out there and remember there are some of us who care about our jobs and take pride in doing the best job we can.
This carrier could have had any number of reasons to be there.
I do lots of things for customers that might cause some concern to the busy body next door peeking out through the curtain, waiting to turn someone in.
If you suspect a lazy postal worker, call the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General’s Hotline is 1-888-USPS-OIG.
If you suspect a crime, call the police
This is a home that is up for sale and has been sitting empty...
This is a house that is for sale and has been empty for months...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.