Baltimore SunVeteran mailman Jeffrey L. Shipley turned his apartment into a repository of pilfered postage, authorities say, as he took letters, magazines, Netflix videos and even a Mother’s Day card from the homes on his route.
Shipley, who worked at a Postal Service facility in Catonsville, “failed to deliver, embezzled and stole over 20,000 pieces of mail,” according to federal charges filed against him last week.
He faces one count each of mail theft and delaying the mail. Neither Shipley nor his attorney could be reached for comment. His father, Foster Shipley, said he was not close to his son but could not imagine him stealing anything.
“He wasn’t that type of person,” Foster Shipley said.
Shipley had been a mailman since August 1993. He most recently worked Tuesday to Saturday, according to court documents, delivering mail to homes on Winters Lane, Old Frederick Road, Lincoln Park, Roberts Avenue, Shipley Avenue and Johnson Street.
Shipley also wrote horror stories, which he promoted on his website. That’s where he indicated his life didn’t turn out as expected.
image: federaljack
Black Bingo, anyone? Takers?
Sorry, think I’m wrong on this one. Pavlov reaction.
See? I told them the check was in the mail
NEWMAN !!
…The amazing fact is that the slow pokes
at the USPS caught the perp…Probably by
accident!!!
I found out something interesting about our postal service. If you have not gotten mail in 30 days at an address they won’t deliver there anymore because it is not an ‘active mailbox’ Even if that mailbox is sitting beside one that is active year round.
you have to call and re-activate it if you want mail delivered to it.
Why?
Shouldn’t that be like, 20,000 counts each??
Now i know why BFH never cashed my check. I thought maybe it was not big enough.
If a mailman is a military vet. And has been a mailman for a long time. Earning him the veteran tag.
Is he then a veteran; veteran?
Well, at least I know what happened to that Mother’s Day card.
It was maybe 20 years ago. I sent out several cards to various relatives and family friends. Mailed them all at once from a mailbox in midtown Manhattan. For some reason my mother’s card was only one that didn’t get delivered.
I cannot describe the brutal chops-busting I got from my mother for years afterward. “You sent Pat G. a Mother’s Day card, and she’s not even RELATED to us……”
Netflix slammed me for not returning a movie. I told them I put it in the mail and they were welcome to search my house if they think I stole it.
I always suspected it was some scum postal worker who probably tore the little window on the return envelope, all the better to see inside and decide he wanted this particular movie.
This is not an isolated case. The postal service across the country is populated with union-protected thieves.