NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hampton man has pled guilty to illegally destroying mail while working as a U.S. Postal Service carrier.
Court documents reveal that on December 9, 2023, 31-year-old Michael Thirkield dumped over 1,200 pieces of mail into a dumpster located in the Forest Lake Court area of Newport News. Following the incident, Thirkield failed to return to work and left his USPS satchel on his porch with a handwritten note reading, “For the mail carrier.”
A USPS customer service supervisor found and recovered 1,296 pieces of first-class and pre-sorted mail from the dumpster on December 11. The recovered mail had been intended for addresses along Thirkield’s assigned routes.
Thirkield now faces up to five years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 26, 2025, though federal sentences are often less than the maximum. A district court judge will determine the final sentence based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal considerations.