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Nicholas Beauchene, 26, was nabbed by special agents of the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General after a Saddle Brook man reported finding dumped bundles of mail in a dumpster behind a North Arlington bank.
Beauchene tossed 1,875 pieces of mail – including 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 – into dumpsters in town and in North Arlington on Friday and Monday, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Also recovered were 627 pieces of first class, 873 pieces of standard class and two pieces of certified mail, Carpenito said.
The mail was scheduled to be delivered on Sept. 28, Oct. 1, and Oct. 2, 2020, to addresses on certain postal routes in Orange and West Orange, the U.S. attorney said.
It was “placed back into the mail stream for delivery to its intended recipients,” Carpenito said. “Copies of the recovered mail were made and retained as evidence.”
Beauchene is charged with the delay secretion, or detention and obstruction of mail.
The Kearny High School graduate, who was married earlier this year, was scheduled for a first appearance Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark.
Carpenito credited special agents of the USPS-Office of Inspector General’s Northeast Area Field Office with the investigation leading to the arrest and thanked North Arlington police.
Howard Dinger of Saddle Brook notified police of the find on Friday.
“Just found two to 300 lb of mail dumped in a dumpster behind one of the banks I service. Including at least 200 ballots,” Dinger posted on Facebook. “This is the kind of stuff you just can’t make up. And yes it was reported to the local police and the postal police.”
Alerted by Dinger, North Arlington police reported finding "several loose (rubber banded) bundles of mail as described by the caller" on Forest Street behind the Santander Bank on Schuyler Avenue on Friday.
These were "secured accordingly" and turned over the U.S. Postal Service, police said.
"The mail was recovered from the trash receptacle and has been put back in the mail stream,” he said.
SEE: 'Go Jump In A Lake': Authorities Verify Bergen Man's Report Of Dumped Mail-In Ballots
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