Re: looking at someones opened mail but still in envelope

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On 1/02/09, Mitch wrote:
> Recently I had a piece of mail that was sitting in my mail
> slot at work. The envelope was unsealed but the contents
> still inside and the envelope was closed ( it still had a
> little sticky stuff left on it). My question is , is it
> still mail tampering for someone to go into it and look at
> it. The person in question was trying to get me in trouble
> because he thought the contents of the envelope (they were
> tickets to a hockey game given to me by a friend) were
> given to me as gratuity. He actually photo copied the
> tickets and filed a complaint against me to my employer.
> What is the law concerning mail that is unsealed but
> obviously not yours?

First; It is not clear to me if this is a piece of US mail
addressed to you or something dropped it off in your mail
slot by hand. If it is not stamped US mail, it is not
covered under any US mail tampering statute.

Next; If you had already opened the envelope and he/she then
reopened it, it is not tampering with mail because it has
been received by the addressee prior to the reopening by the
third party. Once you take your mail out of the box or open
it, it is your responsibility to protect it.

If the person took unopened US mail from a box intended for
mail delivery and opened it, that is probably tampering. If
you are in doubt, you should report the circumstances to the
postal inspector in you post office.