SANTA MONICA—Several dozen mail-in ballots were found in two different trash cans on Friday, October 9, along with other important pieces of mail. Investigators are attempting to find out who did this and what their motive was.
Osvaldo Jimenez, who initially discovered the mail in the trash, was walking down an alley off of 21st street, right near Virginia Ave, when he happened to open the lid of the trash can, and once he noticed what was in it.
According to Jimenez, he found an assortment of mail-in ballots, bank statements and bills, which were all addressed to various addresses in the Santa Monica area. The law states that throwing away mail is a felony and will result in serious jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.
He also found a second batch of mail in another trash can nearby. After collecting all the mail, Jimenez contacted the police, and informed them of what he had discovered.
Police were alarmed by the news, since something similar happened last month in Glendale, when a truck driver, under contract with the United States Postal Service, was caught on camera dumping out dozens of mail bags into a vacant parking lot.
Whether or not these two cases are related is unknown, at this time, however, police are investigating both incidents, and are attempting to see if there may be some kind of organized effort to dump out ballots.
Santa Monica Police and the United States Postal Service is investigating this latest incident. Currently, there are no witnesses and no arrests have been made.
