If you live in the New York City area and didn’t receive as many gifts and holiday cards this year, there could be a reason for that beyond the usual U.S. Postal Service mistakes: according to a criminal complaint filed in Queens, one mailman was under so much seasonal pressure that he just dumped about 1,000 pieces of mail in the trash.

The New York Post reports that the 25-year-old carrier was so “overwhelmed” by his heavy December mail load that he purchased three white garbage bags on Dec. 2 — his first day on a new route — to dispose of the stuff he didn’t want to deliver.

Federal court documents allege that he then threw those bags full of holiday mail in a residential garbage can, where they were discovered two days later.

He reportedly admitted to “ripping open” some of the mail “to see what it contained,” according to the criminal complaint. He’s been arraigned on charges of unlawfully delaying and destroying the mail, and is facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

‘Overwhelmed’ mailman accused of throwing away Christmas gifts [New York Post]

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