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Former U.S. Postal Worker Who Says He Got ‘Lazy’ Sentenced to Probation, Fine
The Register-Guard ^ | Jan. 22, 2015 | Jack Moran

Posted on 01/22/2015 12:24:20 PM PST by DogByte6RER

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Former U.S. postal worker who says he got ‘lazy’ sentenced

It’s long been said that mail carriers deliver through snow, rain, heat and gloom of night.

Maybe that’s because if they fail to do the job right, they could end up charged with a federal crime.

A now-former U.S. Postal Service worker from ­Eugene learned that the hard way after police recovered nearly 1,000 pieces of undelivered mail from two bins on his front porch in July.

The bins contained primarily merchant advertisements (or “junk” mail), but included 27 voter ballots from May’s primary election and more than 200 items of first-class and ­standard mail.

Federal prosecutors charged the man, Alex Douglas Douma, with the crime of mail obstruction.

He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene and was sentenced to a year of probation. Douma also must pay a $500 fine.

Douma, who worked at a post office in Eugene, told investigators who questioned him last summer that he “just got lazy” and had failed to make his rounds on multiple occasions between late April and early July, according to court documents.

Douma apologized in court and told U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin that he set aside the mail because he had “felt pressured for time” while working in a job that required him to sort, scan and deliver mail.

“I wasn’t intending on keeping” the mail, Douma, 27, told Coffin.

Prosecutor William “Bud” Fitzgerald basically confirmed that assertion, telling Coffin that Douma had committed “a crime of failing to do something he should have done.”

John Masters, an agent with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, said his agency considers a crime such as Douma’s “to be a very serious matter.”

“Mr. Douma was required to protect the sanctity and security of U.S. mail entrusted to him,” Masters said.

Agents with Masters’ office worked with local authorities to investigate the case. Masters, citing federal law and agency policy, declined to say whether Douma had been fired in connection with the undelivered mail.

While Douma no longer works for the Postal Service, he has found a new job. His attorney, Clayton Tullos of Eugene, said after Douma’s court appearance that “given the facts, we feel this was an appropriate resolution” of the criminal case.

The charge of mail obstruction carries a maximum prison sentence of six months upon conviction. Douma was not jailed


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: eugene; governmentworkers; lazy; mailman; postal; postoffice; usps
 photo mail-carrier_zps4031dced.jpg BUSTED!
1 posted on 01/22/2015 12:24:20 PM PST by DogByte6RER
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To: All
obamacare photo: Obamacare healthcare.jpg "While Douma no longer works for the Postal Service, he has found a new job." ... Yeah, he was undoubtedly hired and received promotion pay at HHS managing Obamacare.
2 posted on 01/22/2015 12:28:41 PM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

3 posted on 01/22/2015 12:37:05 PM PST by mylife
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To: DogByte6RER
told investigators who questioned him last summer that he “just got lazy” and had failed to make his rounds

Its a crime for federal workers to be lazy and not do their jobs????

4 posted on 01/22/2015 12:37:38 PM PST by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: DogByte6RER; Larry Lucido; F15Eagle

5 posted on 01/22/2015 12:38:08 PM PST by Gamecock (Joel Osteen is a preacher of the Gospel like Colonel Sanders is an Army officer.)
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To: DogByte6RER

Discarded in two bins on his front porch? Not the highest-wattage light bulb in the Post Office, one would assume.


6 posted on 01/22/2015 12:39:07 PM PST by grania
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To: grania

In the Showtime TV series “Weeds”, Richard Dreyfuss played a mailman who used his entire house to store mail he didn’t deliver.


7 posted on 01/22/2015 12:40:27 PM PST by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Gamecock

8 posted on 01/22/2015 12:54:51 PM PST by mylife
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9 posted on 01/22/2015 1:00:35 PM PST by mylife
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To: Publius
I dont understand why they would keep the mail, though.

It is in their very best interest to discard it ASAP. These people would not make master criminals.

10 posted on 01/22/2015 1:00:54 PM PST by T-Bone Texan (The time is now to form up into leaderless cells of 5 men or less.)
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To: DogByte6RER

And how many peoples lives were disrupted when mail they were waiting for never arrived?


11 posted on 01/22/2015 1:01:23 PM PST by SkyDancer
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To: SkyDancer
And how many peoples lives were disrupted when mail they were waiting for never arrived?

That must have been what happened to that check I was waiting for from the Nigerian king who I befriended on email...

12 posted on 01/22/2015 1:23:55 PM PST by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: El Cid

What? You too!?


13 posted on 01/22/2015 1:44:57 PM PST by SkyDancer
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To: DogByte6RER

DANG!

Double DANG!


14 posted on 01/22/2015 2:29:27 PM PST by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: DogByte6RER

I’ve decided my post lady or her husband love Cabela’s. I’ve never received my Cabela’s Bucks (even though their customer service can give me the date they were mailed) and I stopped receiving Cabela’s coupons since I moved to this house. I still get the monthly flyer, just not the savings coupons.

She won’t get out of her truck and honks when she has a package. Last summer she left my brand new Oakley glasses sitting in a box ON TOP of my mailbox. It sat there from 11 AM till about 6 PM, when I pulled up to my driveway. It’s a good thing I’m on a Cul-de-sac.


15 posted on 01/22/2015 2:32:03 PM PST by Dexter Morgan (Everyone hides who they are.)
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To: DogByte6RER

BTW, I’m gonna propose a new “rule” for Free Republic, namely that at least one picture of Newman MUST be posted on any thread about the U.S. Post Office.


16 posted on 01/22/2015 2:58:45 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Dexter Morgan

This is one of many reasons I have all my mail sent to a mail stop store.


17 posted on 01/22/2015 3:50:27 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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