Newman again!
The biggest case of mail theft in Canadian history (although it may not be theft, since he was actually too lazy to do more than put it in his house):
Montreal mailman stashed 100,000 undelivered letters in home, cottage
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, December 08, 2008
MONTREAL -- A Montreal letter carrier pleaded guilty Monday in what is being called the biggest case of mail theft in Canadian history.
Eric Belley, 34, stole more than 100,000 letters and packages over a six-year period.
The letters themselves were left untouched, and that's the problem -- the prosecutor believes Mr. Belley was simply too lazy to do his job.
Instead of delivering mail to his customers the Montrealer brought entire bags of letters home, hiding them in his Montreal-area apartment or at his cottage north of the city.
"It was a shock. We had never seen such a thing, 75,000 or 100,000 pieces of mail," said Catherine Lortie, of Canada Post.
On Monday the former postman pleaded guilty to mail theft. It appeared he had little choice after being caught in the act red-handed.
In the corporation's investigation of Mr. Belley, he was filmed removing bags of mail from the trunk of his car and bringing it inside his home. He now faces up to 10 years in jail.
His defence lawyer says Mr. Belley suffers from mental health problems and has been "followed up by a psychiatrist."
Defence attorney Jean-Marc Tremblay requested a pre-sentencing evaluation for his client, but the Crown says Mr. Belley was simply lazy and didn't care about the undelivered mail.
When investigators took a closer look at the stolen letters, they noticed most of them were destined for apartments located on the second and third floors of homes in the area.
Prosecutor Pierre Barbeau believes Belley was simply too lazy to climb the stairs.
Two weeks after Mr. Belley was arrested, Canada Post set up a task force to see the stolen letters were delivered, and almost every one of the thousands of letters and packages was taken care of within a few days.
Canada Post also contacted the senders to explain what had happened.
But it's still not clear what the motive behind the scam was. Fraud didn't appear to be one of them.
Despite sitting on thousands of credit cards for years Belley did not use any of them.
Mr. Belley will be back in court in March for a sentencing hearing.
Global News
Montreal mailman stashed 100,000 undelivered letters in home, cottage
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, December 08, 2008
MONTREAL -- A Montreal letter carrier pleaded guilty Monday in what is being called the biggest case of mail theft in Canadian history.
Eric Belley, 34, stole more than 100,000 letters and packages over a six-year period.
The letters themselves were left untouched, and that's the problem -- the prosecutor believes Mr. Belley was simply too lazy to do his job.
Instead of delivering mail to his customers the Montrealer brought entire bags of letters home, hiding them in his Montreal-area apartment or at his cottage north of the city.
"It was a shock. We had never seen such a thing, 75,000 or 100,000 pieces of mail," said Catherine Lortie, of Canada Post.
On Monday the former postman pleaded guilty to mail theft. It appeared he had little choice after being caught in the act red-handed.
In the corporation's investigation of Mr. Belley, he was filmed removing bags of mail from the trunk of his car and bringing it inside his home. He now faces up to 10 years in jail.
His defence lawyer says Mr. Belley suffers from mental health problems and has been "followed up by a psychiatrist."
Defence attorney Jean-Marc Tremblay requested a pre-sentencing evaluation for his client, but the Crown says Mr. Belley was simply lazy and didn't care about the undelivered mail.
When investigators took a closer look at the stolen letters, they noticed most of them were destined for apartments located on the second and third floors of homes in the area.
Prosecutor Pierre Barbeau believes Belley was simply too lazy to climb the stairs.
Two weeks after Mr. Belley was arrested, Canada Post set up a task force to see the stolen letters were delivered, and almost every one of the thousands of letters and packages was taken care of within a few days.
Canada Post also contacted the senders to explain what had happened.
But it's still not clear what the motive behind the scam was. Fraud didn't appear to be one of them.
Despite sitting on thousands of credit cards for years Belley did not use any of them.
Mr. Belley will be back in court in March for a sentencing hearing.
Global News