A mail carrier based in Merrifield could face up to a decade in prison after she intentionally crashed and damaged U.S. Postal Service vehicles, the Department of Justice says.
The 31-year-old woman pleaded guilty yesterday (Tuesday) to the destruction of U.S. government property, a charge stemming from a Jan. 16 incident where she allegedly became enraged after being unable to find her cell phone.
According to court documents, the carrier had finished her shift at the USPS delivery annex in Merrifield (2920 Eskridge Road) around 5 p.m. that day and left the facility when she realized her phone was missing. Upon returning to the post office a few minutes later, she “began accusing other USPS employees and supervisors of stealing her cell phone,” prosecutors said in a statement of facts.
“The defendant began violently knocking over and throwing objects within the Falls Church Delivery Annex, disregarding instructions from her supervisors to stop, and taunting them to call the police and with personal insults,” the statement says.
The woman then took a set of keys to a postal truck, walked into the parking lot and got into a van that she then “deliberately rammed” into another vehicle, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.
The collision was forceful enough that the second vehicle slid into and damaged a third USPS vehicle that was parked adjacent to it.
“Subsequently, the defendant exited USPS Vehicle 1 and willfully used her metal water bottle to break and shatter one of the USPS vehicles’ driver side windows,” prosecutors said.
In total, the incident resulted in at least $42,376 in damages, according to the statement, though in a March 28 affidavit, a U.S. Postal Inspection Service agent estimated that the total cost to repair the vehicles would be around $21,000.
The woman was indicted by a grand jury in Alexandria on May 29 on two charges of destruction of government property exceeding $1,000.
According to a plea agreement, she ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of property destruction “because the Defendant is in fact guilty of the charged offense.” The second count will be dismissed upon sentencing.
The woman faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, among other terms. As part of the plea agreement, she is required to undergo recommended mental health care treatment and take an anger management course while on supervised probation.
A federal public defender representing the woman declined to comment, citing her office’s policy.
A sentencing hearing in the case has been scheduled for Oct. 16 at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
