'Grave Importance': Reps. Adam Schiff, Jimmy Gomez Want Updates On Investigation Into Mail Dumped At Glendale Spa
GLENDALE (CBSLA) — Lawmakers are demanding an investigation into two incidents of bags of mail being dumped in the parking lot of a Glendale spa.
Rep. Adam Schiff and Jimmy Gomez sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's inspector in charge to call for a full investigation into the mail dumping incident last week.
The incident has been reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Glendale Police Department and is under investigation. But Schiff, D-Burbank, and Gomez, D-Los Angeles, want the Postal Service to keep Congress updated on the progress of its investigation.
"We respectfully request that Congress be kept appropriately apprised as the investigation continues, including whether these were isolated incidents or part of a broader issue,'' they said in the letter to Patricia Armstrong, the inspector in charge for the Los Angeles Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
"This matter is of grave importance, as it comes at a time when there are still questions and concerns about the Postal Service and accessibility for residents and business owners, as a direct result of deliberate policy changes to the service from the president of the United States and his Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy,'' Schiff and Gomez wrote.
"Millions of Americans rely on the postal service every day -- we've heard from veterans and seniors waiting weeks to receive medication, small businesses who are losing money due to package delays, and of course, millions of citizens who are concerned that their mail-in ballots won't be counted.''
Surveillance video captured a person in a Budget rental vehicle dumping multiple bags of unopened mail in the parking lot of 7Q Spa Laser & Aesthetics, 1648 W. Glenoaks Blvd., on Sept. 3.
The Western Regional Coordinator for the American Postal Workers Union told CNN that postal service workers were not involved in dumping the unopened mail and the person in the video was a contractor.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)