Former Center Rutland postal official charged with obstructing mail
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By Gordon Dritschilo
Staff Writer - Published: June 18, 2010
A man who ran the Center Rutland Post Office was arraigned earlier this week on a single federal charge of obstructing the passage of mail, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Frank J. Strzelec pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor charge Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Burlington and was released on his own recognizance, according to court records. The charge carries a maximum of six months in prison and $5,000 in fines.
Filings on the case were scant Thursday, saying little other than that Strzelec, who was officer in charge at Center Rutland, “did knowingly and willfully obstruct and retard the passage of the mail of Valentina Minina.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan refused to elaborate on the accusations against Strzelec, saying to do so might prejudice the case.
Nolan would say, however, that Strzelec was not, to her knowledge, implicated in the rash of mail thefts reported earlier this year.
Roughly a dozen people in and around Rutland described getting identical letters from the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service saying their mail had been found in the possession of “someone other than your address” and that the person would be prosecuted.
Rafael Medina, a New York City-based spokesman for the Inspector General’s office, also said that Strzelec’s case was unrelated to the others in Rutland but that he could not comment further on open investigations.
Thomas Rizzo, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service based in Maine, said an “officer in charge” is an acting postmaster.
“It’s the temporary head of that facility while there is a search going on for who will take over as the permanent postmaster of the facility,” he said.
Strzelec served as Center Rutland’s officer in charge from March 2009 to April 2010, around the time the office closed, according to Rizzo. Strzelec’s situation and the closure of the office were unrelated, Rizzo said.
gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com
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