Former Capitol Heights Letter Carrier Sentenced For Destroying Mail

Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Warren Christopher Bradford, age 42, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, today to one year and a day in prison followed by three years of supervised release for destroying mail he was entrusted to deliver as a Postal Service letter carrier.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Joanne Yarbrough of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General; and Chief Mark Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to Joanne Yarbrough, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, "The overwhelming majority of postal employees are dedicated, hard-working public servants whose daily efforts instill trust in America's postal system. Unfortunately, there are a few postal employees, very few, who abuse the public trust placed in them, but successful prosecutions provide a significant deterrence against such crimes. I appreciate the partnership of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Prince George's County Police Department with this investigation."

According to evidence presented during the three day trial, Bradford was a letter carrier for 15 years at the Capitol Heights Post Office in Prince George’s County. Beginning in June 2009, customers living along Bradford’s postal route began reporting that they were not receiving mail for days at a time. On September 21, 2009, a citizen called 911 after witnessing a Postal Service employee unloading several trays full of mail from a Postal Service vehicle and discarding them at a secluded location in Capitol Heights. The Prince George’s County Police officer who responded to the scene discovered three trays of undelivered mail, as well as a large amount of burned mail spread across the wooded lot. Supervisory employees from a local post office and agents of the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General were called to the scene. They recovered mail from Bradford’s route bearing postmarks dating back to June 2009.

Postal officials located Bradford that afternoon when he returned to the burn site in his postal truck, which still carried nearly all of his route’s mail for that day.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Adam K. Ake, who prosecuted the case.