Michael Burdette, 34, of St. Albans, pleaded guilty to desertion of mail. Burdette admitted that he discarded mail in a dumpster behind a Winfield business on two occasions while employed by the United States Postal Service.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in January 2023, the United States Postal Service hired Burdette as a Rural Carrier Associate. In this position, Burdette was routinely assigned to deliver mail to residents in the Putnam County area. Burdette admitted that he abandoned his route on March 27 and April 1, 2023.
Each time, Burdette was running late for a personal matter and discarded all remaining mail assigned to him for delivery in the dumpster to ensure he arrived at his personal obligation on time. Burdette admitted that he knowingly and intentionally deserted more than 200 individually addressed parcels of mail that he was entrusted to deliver.
Burdette is scheduled to be sentenced on January 29, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $100,000 fine.
