A U.S. Postal Service employee was charged after he allegedly threw hundreds of pieces of mail, including more than a hundred unfilled absentee ballots, into a dumpster.
DeShawn Bojgere, 30, of Louisville, Kentucky, was charged with delay or destruction of mail on Monday, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman’s office. If convicted, Bojgere faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and one year of supervised release after serving the sentence.
Bojgere, who no longer works at the post office, admitted to authorities that he was responsible for putting hundreds of pieces of undelivered mail in a construction dumpster sometime between Oct. 5 and Oct. 15, 2020, according to a criminal complaint. The mail included more than 110 general election absentee ballots from the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, which were on their way to voters, approximately 400 pieces of flat rate mail or second class pieces of mail, and two election campaign fliers.
“Especially in these times, Americans depend on the reliability and integrity of those that deliver the U.S. Mail,” said U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman. “Conduct by Postal employees that violates that duty will result in swift federal prosecution.”
The mail came from a single route for one scheduled delivery day. Copies of all the mail was made for evidence purposes while the originals were sent to their intended destinations.
The U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General is investigating the matter.
The issue of mail-in voting has been a hot topic given that more than 75% of voters will have the opportunity to get their ballot in the mail, which is the most in the country’s history, according to the New York Times. President Trump and many of his Republican allies have sought to use individualized cases such as this one to suggest that mail-in voting is much more susceptible to fraud.
