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Postmaster Accused Of Opening Mail, Threatening Employees Headed To Trial

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh Postmaster Daniel Davis has been ordered to stand trial on charges including obstructing the administration of law and witness intimidation.

The ruling was made by District Judge Jim Motznik who heard testimony Wednesday from postal employees who said Davis threatened them if they talked about what they saw.

Davis was suspended from his duties as postmaster of Pittsburgh after a number of employees said they saw Davis opening express mail packages looking for drugs.

They testified he looked specifically for packages that were taped at the top and specifically came from states like Florida, Texas and California, claiming he had his own approach to getting drugs off the streets. Problem was, according to the prosecution, he was not authorized to do that without a warrant.

Some employees, who either saw it happen or asked him about it, said he threatened them in no uncertain terms.

Customer service supervisor Donna Clay testified Davis told her the last person who crossed him was "no longer here."

She wasn't sure if that just meant at the post office, then she said on the stand, "He said if I tell anybody anything he would kill me."

Dwayne Mayo-James testified he saw Davis open two coffee bags full of drugs.

"He told me he was the most ruthless [expletive] that I'd ever met and don't cross him," he testified.

Joshua Francis testified he asked to be placed elsewhere after seeing what he saw of the package openings. Later on, he was offered a promise of a better job by Davis but refused.

Davis' attorney though says his client had been opening packages when he was in Toledo, and no one complained.

"The testimony was that he told people that it was done in Toledo," said defense attorney Joe Chester. "And it was done in Toledo, and nobody from the Inspector's Office corrected Davis all summer long, and then on Dec. 2, they decided to investigate something. We don't even know what the investigation is."

Davis was ordered to stand trial on state charges. Federal investigators have not revealed the status of their own investigation.

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