March 28, 2024
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Employee threatens Houlton post office

HOULTON – U.S. Postal Service officials are investigating a comment made by an employee at the post office in Houlton that he wanted to blow up the building on Court Street.

Mike Desrosiers, a postal inspector, confirmed late Thursday afternoon that a male employee at the post office allegedly made a comment to another employee about blowing up the building. He declined to say when the comment was made.

According to Desrosiers, Houlton Postmaster Leigh Cummings Jr. learned about the employee’s comment “first thing Tuesday.”

No charges have been filed and for that reason Desrosiers would not identify the person other than to say that he has been an employee at Houlton within the last 10 years.

“More investigation will be done to find out the nature of the statement,” Desrosiers said during a telephone interview Thursday, adding that the employee has been interviewed.

He said the response to the alleged comment was quick and aggressive. Employees were notified, as was the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office – the law-enforcement arm of the Postal Service. In addition, locks at the building were changed that morning and a restraining order was issued against the employee, barring him from the premises.

The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Local police also were called to assist “as a precaution,” Desrosiers said.

“We did take it seriously [and] we reacted immediately,” he said. “We have to for the safety of our employees.”

For now, the case is being handled by the Aroostook County District Attorney’s Office.

Though threatening to blow up a U.S. government facility is a federal offense, Desrosiers said it had not been decided whether the matter would be turned over to the U.S. attorney for prosecution.

“We need to determine what did he mean by it,” the inspector said of the employee’s comment.


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