United States v. Elliott F. Brusseau

Elliott Brusseau appeals from a judgment of the District Court for the Western District of Virginia convicting him of obstructing correspondence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1702. 1 He claims that the Postal Service had delivered the letters before he took them and, thus, his actions did not constitute a violation of § 1702. We disagree.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (V.P.I.) hired Brusseau to sort mail in V.P.I.’s central mail facility and carry it to the dormitory mail rooms for students to pick up. He also collected undeliverable mail, added forwarding addresses, and…