The check might be in the mail, as the saying goes, but it might not ever arrive if it is among a large stack of mail that was found Wednesday morning, around 8:30 a.m., in a wooded area off of CR 4701 in south Liberty County near Dayton.
The mail was reported by local residents to the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office. When LCSO Lead Investigator Chance Maddox arrived, he found that the majority of the mail was postmarked as far back as Aug. 22 and dated through Sept. 3. Much of it was rain-soaked and destroyed by the recent heavy rains.
“Some of the water-soaked mail had broken open, exposing Social Security card information, utility bills and other personal information that was addressed to residents in the south Liberty County area,” said Capt. Ken DeFoor, spokesperson of the sheriff’s office.
DeFoor said Maddox is working closely with the Dayton postmaster and Postal Inspector to determine how and who discarded the mail in the woods.
“It does not appear to have been stolen from any mail truck or large outside mailbox as no reports of such thefts have been made,” DeFoor said.
The Postal Service is looking into whether or not the mail could have been discarded by former employees and other who might have had access to U.S. Mail.
“In the meantime, according to Dep. Maddox, postal authorities are going to send out notification to the area residents of concern advising them of this discarded mail and the possibility that their mail may have been found damaged or destroyed,” DeFoor said.
The Sheriff’s Office is advising anyone who lives it the area of CR 4701 and who may have been expecting important personal papers, documents, house hold bills or other critical papers, but have not received those items, to contact their respective companies or agencies to see if those items have been mailed or, perhaps, now lost or destroyed in this stack of discarded mail.