Fairbanks postal worker charged in mail investigation
by Sam Friedman / sfriedman@newsminer.com
Nov 18, 2011 | 7333 views | 12 12 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend | print
FAIRBANKS — A Fairbanks postal contractor is accused of hiding more than 100 articles of undelivered mail in a storage locker.

Christopher J. Thomas, was indicted Wednesday on one count of perjury for allegedly giving a false statement to a federal inspector investigating undelivered mail. His also charged with the crime of misapplying property, a misdemeanor.

Thomas worked as a contractor delivering mail between 2005 and 2008, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Baldock said. Thomas delivered mail to Region 68, which covers Yak Estates.

Prosecutors say they found 120 pieces of first class mail, one piece of international mail and one tub of presorted standard mail in a Castle Rock storage unit Thomas abandoned earlier this year.

The mail has been inventoried and has now been delivered or will be delivered in the near future, Baldock said. The crime of perjury carries a maximum sentence of four years. The misdemeanor charge can carry a sentence of up to one year.

This is the second pending case in the Fairbanks area involving a postal worker failing to deliver mail. North Pole postal worker Geoff Owen, 31, is accused of taking 88 pieces of mail to a transfer site. He is also accused of perjury. That case is scheduled to go to trial in January.

Contact staff writer Sam Friedman at 459-7545.
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Comments
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teapartypatriot_2
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November 18, 2011
Sorry Yak residents but when I read this story I started laughing. It is because I remembered Newman (Wayne Knight), the mailman in Sienfeld, doing the same thing. It was funny as heck.
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LibHunter
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November 18, 2011
Live in Moose Creek with the most inept carrier in the world. She cannot seem to match the Mail with the right address, despite it Obviously being written on the package. Also had 3 very important boxes mailed from home to NP Post Office. So i bring in my claim ticket to collect my boxes. The lady goes to retrieve them and then tells me their nowhere to be found. I refuse to let them usher me aside and DEMAND! they find my boxes. After bout an hour they come marching out with them . Apparently they were put outside in a pile of empty boxes, as though they were about to be stolen. Complained to Postmaster in person...he shuffled his feet like a Zombie, and spoke like a mouse...utterly worthless.

Also had a substantial check mailed to me VIA the NP Post Office. Never saw it. Traced it out to NP Postal, n that's where it disappeared. Guessing it somehow made it's way into the pile of empty boxes as well.
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chiliwilli
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November 18, 2011
Doesn't surprise me in the least. A few years ago I had a very expensive cell phone mailed to my home address in west fairwest subdivision. Postal carrier (government employee, not contractor) scanned it as delivered at 6am but did not 'deliver' it until around 4:30pm. I checked my mail at 5pm and there was no package. In my investigation I contacted the seller and had them describe the package, had the carrier describe the package she said she delivered. The descriptions were not even close to the same. Filed a complaint with the postal service. They basically did not care as they said she had never had any complaints before so why should she now. Filed a police report so that I could complain all the way up the line to no avail. I would definitely vote to privatize the postal service. Not to mention that when I do have to pick up a package supposed to be delivered to my home, it is at the Geist Road office and they are ALWAYS rude. Hate to have to go there at all.
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oldowl
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November 18, 2011
I recently mailed a package to a friend of mine in another state for her birthday. She described the condition of the priority mail box I sent it in and it was obvious it had been opened. The tape was brown instead of the clear I used. There were three small packages inside and the largest one was not wrapped in the gift wrap I used and paper was gone. Some packing I put in the box was gone. I have been debating reporting it because I have been told Homeland Security may have done it. Only one of the items unwrapped and it was a rubber hot water bottle with a cover I knitted for it. Really ticks me off but a friend tells me they might have thought it was a bomb?????
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SandCrab
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November 18, 2011
On a related note. Something that people may not know is that part of a rural carriers contract is delivering packages to a house. I live on Chena Ridge and my carrier refuses to deliver packages to the house, she just leaves pick-up notices in the box. The postal system staunchly refuses to enforce the contract and make her deliver packages.

So, given the apparent apathy and lack of oversight on the part of the postal service, it's not difficult to see how mail could be not delivered at all.

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akrafter
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November 18, 2011
Actually I have had just the opposite experience. I live in Fox, but still keep my PO Box at Geist Rd. The Steese contract office is much faster than standing in line at the Geist Rd. office to mail a package out.

Even worse, it now costs more than $100 per year for the privilege of standing in line for up to 3/4 hr. to pick up any packages at the Geist Rd. office. I'd like to see the whole system privatized.
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oldowl
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November 18, 2011
I suggest using the automated system they have if you can use a debit or credit card. Much faster than standing in line, easy and works well. Line not as long either.
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FairbanksOptimist
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November 18, 2011
They took the self postage machine out of the downtown post office. If you ask the postal employees they will tell you it was because the machine was too expensive.

I am still laughing.
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diogenesFBKS
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November 20, 2011
akrafter said:

Even worse, it now costs more than $100 per year for the privilege of standing in line for up to 3/4 hr. to pick up any packages at the Geist Rd. office. I'd like to see the whole system privatized.</>

The vast majority of these mail problems are caused by the privatizing the route to some derelict, you damn fool.

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akguy1
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November 18, 2011
I lived at Yak Estates from 2006 - 2008 and complained several times that my mail was repetedly being delivered open - magazines frequently looked used. A friend lived in the same area and had the same problems.

When I talked to this guy a few times he was just plain rude and nasty.

I have no doubt that it was this guy - he was horrible....

I moved over to the McGrath area and now I have the best carrier I could ask for....that alone was worth the move -
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TheAntiClinger
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November 18, 2011
Privatizing all these government jobs sure has helped out a lot hasn't it? Just try a visit to the Steese (contracted) post office to see how bad it can get.
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duskgnu80
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November 18, 2011
AntiClinger unless you have or had a p.o. box at that location the steese does not handle your mail they only hold the packages that the airport post office decides to send over after you recieved a slip. Private offices in fairbanks work at less than half the cost of a gov't office, they can get fired for doing a bad job unlike a govt worker who it almost takes an act of congress to fire, like akrafter said the difference in line wait times and service are night and day between most contract and govt offices in fairbanks. If you recieved bad service at the steese then you most likely are the type of person that prob deserved it im geussing.
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