Ex-postal worker failed to deliver mail, says he 'got lazy'

Nov. 13, 2013: U.S. postal service trucks sit parked at the post office. (Reuters)

A former U.S. postal worker in Eugene, Oregon pleaded guilty to misdemeanor mail obstruction and was sentenced to a year of probation after failing to deliver nearly 1,000 pieces of mail.

Alex Douma, 27, told investigators he "got lazy" and failed to make rounds on multiple occasions between late April and early July. Douma set he set aside the mail because he "felt pressured for time."

Police recovered bins of undelivered mail on Douma's front porch last July, the Register-Guard reports. The bins contained mostly advertisements, but also had 27 voter ballots from last May's primary election and 200 items of first class and standard mail.

Douma's job required him to sort, scan and deliver the mail.

"I wasn't intending on keeping the mail," Douma told U.S. Magistrate Jude Thomas Coffin.

John Masters, a U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General agent told the paper that Douma's crime is a "very serious matter."

Douma's charge carries a maximum prison sentence of six months upon conviction.

The Associated Press contributed to this report