"Mailman Steve" -- a pudgy, kindly 58-year-old who toiled along a route in a rapidly growing neighborhood here -- was given probation in federal court this week for squirreling away at least seven years' worth of undelivered junk mail, which he had stacked in his garage and buried in his yard.
It should come as no surprise that the U.S. Postal Service did not receive a single complaint from Padgett's customers about missing mail during the years he withheld pizza circulars, oil change discount notices and Chinese menus.
But when someone noticed bins of mail stacking up, the authorities were alerted, and Mailman Steve was charged with delaying and destroying U.S. mail. The Postal Service notified hundreds of residents, but only one responded. That customer, Kenna Reinhardt, wrote not to condemn Padgett but to honor him.
"Mr. Padgett did not mean harm to any person, rather he overcompensated by doing his job better than anyone," Reinhardt said in the letter, which was entered into the record by U.S. Atty. Josh Howard.
Link:
Mailman fails to deliver, becomes local hero - Los Angeles Times
It should come as no surprise that the U.S. Postal Service did not receive a single complaint from Padgett's customers about missing mail during the years he withheld pizza circulars, oil change discount notices and Chinese menus.
But when someone noticed bins of mail stacking up, the authorities were alerted, and Mailman Steve was charged with delaying and destroying U.S. mail. The Postal Service notified hundreds of residents, but only one responded. That customer, Kenna Reinhardt, wrote not to condemn Padgett but to honor him.
"Mr. Padgett did not mean harm to any person, rather he overcompensated by doing his job better than anyone," Reinhardt said in the letter, which was entered into the record by U.S. Atty. Josh Howard.
Link:
Mailman fails to deliver, becomes local hero - Los Angeles Times
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