A longtime Postal Service employee has been charged with stealing thousands of pieces of junk mail–all in a bizarre effort to garner ideas for a direct mail business he ran on the side, authorities said Thursday.
The thefts were discovered last November when a fire broke out at the Downers Grove home of the postal employee, Gordon Richardson Jr., officials said.
Firefighters had to remove piles of junk mail from the home in order to reach the blaze, said David Colen, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago.
In an indictment made public Thursday, Richardson, 61, was charged with stealing about 26,000 pieces of mail.
What makes the case even more unusual was that Richardson was a distribution clerk at the Oak Brook post office–not a carrier delivering mail.
Colen said Richardson stole a few pieces of junk mail almost every day over many years.
The thefts drew no suspicion since he was not stealing greeting cards or other first-class letters that people expected to receive, Colen said.
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In those cases, customers often complain, alerting postal officials to potential problems with a letter carrier.
Richardson, though, had an interest in checking out the latest junk mail to give him ideas for the direct mail business he operated as a sideline, Colen said.
Authorities said much of the mail found in his house was old. The majority of it was junk mail, Colen said. Even the few first-class letters were business advertising, some of which did not qualify for the bulk rate, he said.
Richardson will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court.
He was suspended from the Postal Service after the discovery of the mail in his home.
The fire broke out Nov. 10 at Richardson’s home in the 6400 block of Powell Street.
Firefighters had to discard piles of mail blocking their way, dumping it on the driveway.
About 20 postal inspectors were brought in to sort through all the mail, Colen said.
On Thursday Richardson’s brick ranch house, concealed by a thick grove of overgrown evergreens, was vacant and boarded.
His neighbors did not know Richardson well. One said his only interaction with him was when Richardson mowed his lawn. Richardson would say hello, but little more, the neighbor said.
Another neighbor, Sharon Smith, lived across the street from Richardson for 15 years.
“He was one who just kept to himself,” she said.