Former Postal Worker Indicted
In 1986, in Edmond, Oklahoma, 14 postal workers were shot dead and another 6 wounded by Patrick Sherrill, a postal worker who succumbed to uncontrollable workplace rage. After his terrifying shooting spree, Sherrill killed himself. Over the next decade or so there were at least 20 incidents in which postal workers suffered violent outbursts and killed coworkers in the workplace. Much to the USPS’s chagrin, the term “going postal” evolved into American slang in the early nineties. Mail delivery was no longer seen as a mild and undemanding job.
So while the charges against Sarah Jane Paradise, a former U.S. Postal Service carrier, are certainly very serious, the upside is that no one died as a result. Some people didn’t get their mail. But nobody lost their life.
That, however, doesn’t change the fact that Paradise is looking at some very serious federal charges. According to U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles, she has been charged with two counts of unlawfully destroying, detaining and delaying mail. The mail that she allegedly destroyed or detained was slated for delivery in Manistique.
Paradise’s route was labeled “City Route i”, which apparently included hundreds of homes in central Manistique. The mail entrusted to her for delivery that she allegedly delayed, detained, and destroyed was Standard A mail. According to the post office this is bulk business mail. The federal indictment claims that the incidents took place between March of 2014 and March of 2015.
The U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General conducted an investigation and brought the results to the authorities. According to federal law, any postal worker who “unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail,…shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
If convicted, Paradise could be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison if the judge chooses to make her sentences consecutive, or five years if the sentences are concurrent. In the end, the consequences of conviction are life changing. That’s why you need a good attorney on your side when you face either federal or state charges.