Charges dismissed against postal worker fired for dumping Kean campaign mailers

Federal prosecutors have dismissed a criminal charge against a U.S. Postal Service employee who was fired after dumping about 300 campaign mailers supporting Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) during the 2024 congressional election, placing her in a pretrial diversion program that could let her avoid a criminal conviction.

Lenora M. Swiecicki was initially charged with obstruction of mail, a federal misdemeanor, after investigators determined that she discarded campaign literature intended for voters in Succasunna, a heavily Republican section of Roxbury Township in New Jersey’s 7th congressional district.

“She admitted to throwing out election mail in multiple locations near her home in Pennsylvania,” said Cassandra Cline, a special agent with the USPS Office of Inspector General in New Brunswick.

Swiecicki was fired from the Postal Service, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Andréa Dechenne Bergman subsequently ordered that she “not reapply for employment with USPS.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office dismissed the charge without prejudice on November 25, 2025, under an agreement that permits prosecutors to reinstate it if Swiecicki fails to complete the diversion program.

The case stems from an incident first reported by the New Jersey Globe on November 2, 2024, just three days before Kean faced Democrat Sue Altman in a closely watched race for a second term.

Surveillance video captured a woman in a Postal Service uniform pulling up to a dumpster at a ShopRite supermarket in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, removing several postal bins from the trunk of her car, and dumping their contents into the dumpster before driving away.

The supermarket’s security personnel witnessed the incident, recorded the vehicle’s Pennsylvania license plate, and turned surveillance footage over to federal postal investigators.

“We saw her dump it,” a security company official working for the supermarket told the New Jersey Globe at the time.

A security official could also be heard on the recording saying, “We have a license plate. She has a Pennsylvania plate, but it looks like the mail’s from Jersey.”

The discarded mailers, paid for by an independent expenditure committee connected to the national Republican Party, were intended for voters in Succasunna, a key source of Republican votes in Kean’s district.

Kean expressed concern when the incident was first reported.

“I believe in the security of our elections and voting by mail, but this incident is deeply troubling. I hope the USPS acts swiftly to resolve whatever crimes have been committed, and I urge them to be open and transparent about the specifics of this incident,” Kean said. “Protecting the integrity of our democracy is imperative.”

At the time, Postal Service spokesman Xavier Hernandez confirmed that the agency was investigating allegations of mishandled political mail and had referred the matter to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the USPS Office of Inspector General.

Federal court records show that Swiecicki was initially charged in May 2025 with violating a federal statute obstructing or retarding the passage of mail.

On September 25, 2025, Bergman ordered Swiecicki released on her own recognizance, requiring her to report to federal pretrial services, appear at future court proceedings, and refrain from seeking renewed employment with the Postal Service.

That same day, the judge continued the case until November 20 to let federal prosecutors review her application for pretrial diversion, a program that lets some defendants avoid criminal convictions by meeting specified conditions.

On November 25, prosecutors filed an order dismissing the charge.  The dismissal states that prosecution was deferred under a pretrial diversion agreement and explicitly provides that the court will reinstate all charges if Swiecicki does not successfully complete the program.

The publicly filed dismissal does not disclose the agreement’s terms or duration, or whether Swiecicki completed the program.

The court records do not establish that Swiecicki was convicted or sentenced, nor do they indicate that investigators determined she had a political motive for discarding the mailers.  But there are no pending charges against her.

A former resident of Stanhope, Swiecicki now resides in Gilbert, Pennsylvania.  She did not immediately return a call to her cell phone.