Hundreds of pieces of mail found discarded in Southwest Philly neighborhood

The mail and U.S. postal bins were scattered throughout bushes along South 86th Street in Southwest Philly.

SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA - Residents in a Southwest Philly neighborhood are left scratching their heads after hundreds of pieces of mail were found discarded Tuesday morning.

"There’s hundreds and hundreds of mails," said Leonard Stewart. He is talking about mail that a resident found discarded in their Eastwick neighborhood. Stewart is a member of the Eastwick Friends and Neighborhood Coalition.

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"A lot of personal checks, a lot of information and that’s why we don’t want to leave this spot unsecured. There’s mail that goes throughout the country," said Stewart who called police and the postal service.

The mail and U.S. postal bins were scattered throughout bushes along South 86th Street in Southwest Philly.

"We were just looking through some of the mail. We assume there’s medicine and a lot of personal information," said Stewart. Residents say illegal dumping has been an ongoing problem in the area. They’ve started doing their own patrols after calls for a camera have gone unanswered.

"We walk around. A lot of times we have to call the police, Eastwick bike patrol and like today we also had to call the postal inspectors," said Stewart.

In a statement, the United States Postal Service said they do not believe a postal employee is responsible for dumping the mail.

"The Postal Service condemns, in the strongest possible sense, behavior that jeopardizes the security and sanctity of the U.S. Mail or threatens to tarnish the reputation and high level of trust that the vast majority of our employees work so hard to uphold,"

The United States Postal Inspection Service is handling the investigation, according to the service.