United States Postal Service worker Nicholas Beauchene, 26, of Kearny, New Jersey pleaded guilty on Thursday to discarding over 2,000 pieces of federal mail in October 2020, including nearly 100 general election ballots for resident’s in New Jersey’s Orange and West Orange municipalities.
Beauchene pleaded guilty in a Newark federal court to one count of desertion of mails after being accused of dumping ballots into dumpsters in North Arlington and West Orange in late September and early October of 2020, just a few weeks before the presidential election.
Court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney’s office go into greater detail about the mail discarded in the trash by Beauchene:
Beauchene admitted that on Sept. 28, Oct. 1, and Oct. 2, 2020, he discarded into dumpsters in North Arlington, New Jersey, and West Orange 1,875 pieces of mail that he was assigned to deliver to postal customers in West Orange and Orange, New Jersey. This mail included 627 pieces of first-class mail, 873 pieces of standard class mail, two pieces of certified mail, 99 general election ballots destined for residents in West Orange, and 276 campaign flyers from local candidates for West Orange Town Council and Board of Education. Law enforcement recovered the mail on Oct. 2, 2020, and Oct. 5, 2020, and placed it back into the mail stream for delivery.
The desertion of mail charge is punishable by a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 21, 2021.
While reports of discarded ballots were widespread on social media were widespread both during and after the 2020 presidential, claims of ballot dumping have been near-universally branded “conspiracy theories” by sociac media tech monopolies and accredited fact-checking organizations.