NJ postal worker accused of throwing out hundreds of pieces of mail, including ballots – 1011now

WEST ORANGE, N.J. (WCBS) – Investigators have accused a New Jersey postal worker of dumping empty election ballots, political fliers and other types of mail over the course of a one-week period.

WCBS reports Nicholas Beauchene resigned from his job less than four months after he was hired after being accused of tossing 627 pieces of first-class mail.

The lack of mail confused some who lived along Beauchene’s mail route in Essex County.

“We were wondering what happened,” Judy Simon of West Orange said. “We kept going out thinking was it going to come later and later, and then it didn’t come until yesterday.”

Investigators claimed Beauchene made the dumps between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2. The mail was destined for addresses in the townships of Orange and West Orange.

Authorities were tipped off when people reported finding mounds of discarded mail while throwing out the trash. Howard Dinger of Arlington made a discovery in his dumpster on Friday.

“To have that all go in the trash like that was, in my mind, really ridiculous,” Dinger said.

Prosecutors said Beauchene was the only person working that route on those days. The letters were placed back into the mail stream for delivery.

Beauchene hasn’t commented on the case, and family members at his home in Kearny declined to say anything on the matter.

Prosecutors claim Beauchene admitted to the accusations, but they don’t believe he had a political motive.