Terrible Mailman Hid More Than 44,000 Pieces of Mail in Mother's Home

That’s basically what police think motivated the man to stash at least 44,900 pieces of mail in his dead mother’s house and a storage unit.

“He wanted to speed up his route,” said Capt. Craig Patterson, who arrested Morse. “I think he was lazy.” Via WTSP:

U.S. Attorney David Hale said Morse dumped mail for two years, ending in March 2013, and destroyed at least 1,000 more pieces. Most were advertising circulars.

[…]

Morse, who had been a letter carrier for five years, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley Jr. to six months in jail followed by six months’ home incarceration for destroying, hiding and delaying the delivery of U.S. mail.

Federal sentencing guidelines called for him to get a two-year sentence, but McKinley gave him less because he didn’t steal from the mail and only a few of the 250 mail recipients on his route suffered financial losses.

McKinley also ordered him to pay $14,808 in restitution to residents, a bank and two other businesses for their losses. He had pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced last week. The sentence was announced Tuesday.

[…]

Morse also was convicted of theft in state court for cashing about $31,000 in Social Security checks made out to his deceased mother…and placed in diversion for five years, according to the Hopkins County commonwealth’s attorney’s office.

Morse’s lawyer said his client was going through a divorce and had to pick his kids up from school on the days he worked. He said Morse was just storing the mail he hadn’t finished delivering.

“It’s not that he was stealing anything from it,” said federal public defender Patrick Bouldin.

Image via Shutterstock.