(Newswire.net — September 29, 2014) — Joseph Brucato, 67, was arrested on Wednesday after a supervisor saw undelivered post in his personal car, where it was forbidden by policy.
Postal investigators subsequently found 40,000 pieces of mail dated as far back as 2005.
Mr. Brucato’s layer said his client is suffering from depression but did not give a reason why he had allegedly taken the letters.
However, according to a federal criminal complaint, when confronted by postal investigators about the undelivered mail in his vehicle, Mr. Brucato said he had been keeping mail there for six months and “on some days… did not deliver the mail intended for his route for various personal reasons”.
A search of Mr Brucato’s residence, vehicle and locker at work found even more mail that investigators said was post marked as early as 2005.
The hoarded mail was bound for businesses and residents in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
He also admitted delaying 1,150 unaddressed door-to-door postal packets in 2013, which were recovered from a his personal vehicles.
“I was finding it difficult to concentrate or cope with the demands of work and general daily life. I can genuinely say that when I did not deliver mail I had every intention of delivering it next day.” Ewing told the court.
“Before I realised, things had become too bad to resolve and I felt unable to confide in anyone about what had happened. I took it upon myself to try and dispose of the mail I had not delivered.
“I realise how serious these charges are and I feel deeply ashamed of my actions. I feel sorry for the stress and anxieties I have caused for members of the public who have not received items of their post.”
According to court records, Mr Brucato became a postman in 2001 and had been assigned a regular route in the New York borough of Brooklyn for the past 11 years.
That is not the first case of troubled postman not delivering the mail, one managed to avoid prison after a sheriff said the material was junk mail.
Kevin Ewing, 31, hid more than 5,000 items of mail between 2009 and 2014. He told Perth Sheriff Court he was finding it difficult to cope.
Ewing, from Perth, was caught after Royal Mail set up surveillance to monitor him. Among the items Ewing failed to deliver were 2,915 packages destined for one street.