Ever wonder if the check really is in the mail?
For some postal customers in Pennsylvania, the answer was yes: those checks just never actually made it to their destinations. And they allegedly have Patrick D’Ambrosio to blame.
D’Ambrosio, a 48 year old Philadelphia postal worker, has been charged with obstruction for failing to deliver a number of letters and packages to postal customers. And by a number, I mean 22,000.
That’s right. Between May 2014 and January 2015, D’Ambrosio opted to deliver more than 22,000 pieces of mail to an alternate destination: his garage. Authorities found mail that should have been delivered stuffed in trash bags and stored in D’Ambrosio’s car and his garage.
Among the stash? Five Treasury checks, 7,100 first class letters, 200 certified letters, 11,700 standard letters, and more than 2,500 non-profit letters.
The good news is that by law, Treasury checks are good within a year from the date of issue. The one year rules includes Treasury checks issued for tax refunds. Of course, that means that tax refund checks not cashed within a year of the issue date are considered expired. Expired refund checks can be replaced so long as the original was never cashed. To request a replacement check, taxpayers need only call IRS at 1.800.829.0115 (the IRS also asks that you destroy the original). Of course, IRS encourages the use of electronic filing and direct deposit to ensure the fastest service for refunds.
The same rule applies to other federal checks. If you have an expired check from another government agency – or you didn’t receive your check – contact the agency that issued the check. That includes the Social Security Administration (for Social Security checks) and the Department of Defense (for military pensions). Be sure to have your personal information (including the amount of the check and reason for issue) handy when you call.
It’s worth noting that, despite D’Ambrosio’s hoarding of the mail, most letters and packages do make it to their destinations. In 2014, the U.S. Postal Service processed 155.4 billion pieces of mail – that’s about 40% of the world’s mail volume. Postal carriers don’t just deliver to houses on Main Street: in Arizona, the U.S. Postal Service has a mule train delivery which carries mail down an 8-mile trail to the Havasupai Indians at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, while in the Detroit River in Michigan, a floating post office uses a mail boat to deliver mail to passing ships.
So what tipped off the feds that there was a problem in Philadelphia? You guessed it: disgruntled customers. Postal customers notified the U.S. Postal Service that they weren’t receiving mail. Investigators eventually traced the problem to D’Ambrosio – and his garage. The U.S. Postal Service is now working with authorities to make sure that those letters and packages are delivered – even if some of them might be a year or so late in coming.
If convicted of the obstruction charges, D’Ambrosio faces a sentence of up to six months in jail together with a fine.
