Florida postal worker accused of throwing ballots and absentee ballots into the woods

A Florida man is facing years in prison after being accused of throwing a mail-in ballot and other election-related mail into the woods while he was a contract employee at the U.S. Postal Service.

Federal authorities arrested Ottis McCoy on Friday and accused him of discarding more than 1,000 pieces of mail instead of delivering it on his delivery route to Orlando on Tuesday. He was charged with theft, taking or taking of mail, a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and a prison sentence of up to five years.

According to an affidavit accompanied by a criminal complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Charles Johnsten, an inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), recalled seeing surveillance video in which McCoy “threw large quantities of U.S. letters.” Email to [a] wooded property.”

Authorities were alerted because another postal worker became suspicious while helping McCoy load a delivery truck with a large amount of mail before seeing him return from his route earlier than expected. A tracking device installed on the van later confirmed that McCoy had gone off route.

The discarded mail was later discovered in a wooded area in an Orlando neighborhood that was near McCoy's route. According to authorities, footage of McCoy throwing out the mail was also captured by a camera installed in a cul-de-sac home next to the woods.

“Inspectors collected the U.S. mail and discovered more than 1,000 pieces of U.S. mail, including more than 400 pieces of political mail and a ballot,” Johnsten wrote in the affidavit, which included images of the ballot and other mail scattered on the ground.

At the time of publication, it was unclear whether McCoy had received legal representation.

Newsweek USPIS asked for comment via email Friday evening.

Earlier this year, a Tennessee postal worker was accused of throwing boxes of mail into a dumpster instead of delivering them after a TikTok video went viral. Federal officials this month accused worker DuJuan Butler of unlawfully withholding and delaying mail.

Although no evidence has been presented that either incident was politically motivated, concerns about election mail security have increased recently due to the upcoming presidential election.

Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed during the 2020 election that mail-in voting was rife with fraud, although he has encouraged his supporters to vote early in some way in the current election.

The FBI is investigating the source of a fake video shared on social media this week that claims it shows a person ripping up absentee ballots for Trump in Pennsylvania. Local nonpartisan election officials immediately condemned the fake video.

In a joint statement with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Friday, the FBI said the investigation found “that Russian actors produced and amplified the video.”

“In the run-up to Election Day and in the weeks and months afterward [we expect] “Russia will create and publish additional media content aimed at undermining confidence in the integrity of the election and dividing Americans,” the statement continued.