Wrigleyville Woman Finds Box Of Mail In Dumpster, Says Postal Worker Was Seen Dumping It
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For months, a homeowner in Wrigleyville has been complaining about missing mail – until she found her own mail, and her neighbors' dumped in the trash.
As CBS 2's Steven Graves reported Tuesday evening, the supposed culprit was caught on camera.
For Maggie Czerwien, it all began with a walk beside her home on Lakewood Avenue near Waveland Avenue with her boyfriend to throw away trash in the dumpster.
"And we were like, 'What is this?'" Czerwien said.
The video shows that someone threw an entire box of mail into their dumpster.
"So we fished it out and it had mail for our block and for four surrounding blocks," Czerwien said. "It was current mail. It seemed to be bills, credit card statements, things like that."
So Czerwien checked out one of her surveillance cameras.
"I was angry to see it," Czerwien said.
A man is seen walking up and throwing the box into the dumpsters.
"I guess, to our surprise, it was actually the mail carrier," Czerwien said.
But a closer look shows the man does not appear to be in a typical postal uniform. He is wearing what looks like jeans and sneakers.
Czerwien did not recognize him. But a neighbor caught a screenshot on the same day with the same man, near a Postal Service truck.
"He got out, took the package, delivered it, went back to the truck," Czerwien said.
Either way, what happened is a federal crime. And when CBS 2 sent emails and calls to the U.S. Postal Service for answers, we got a response from spokesman Kevin Cloninger reading, "As a matter of protocol, we do not confirm or refute information related to ongoing USPS (Office of Inspector General) investigations."
Cloninger added, "We report any investigative findings when the matter becomes public record."
But after what Czerwien called a series of mail mess problems on her block.
"We've been complaining to the Post Office. Nothing's been done," she said. "And now I finally have proof."
Czerwien said she has met with investigators from the Postal service. She is speaking out because she wants to encourage others to report missing mail as it could uncover something bigger.