Daniel P. Davis, 50, of Cannonsburg who was the postmaster from February, 2014 until January after he transferred from Toledo faces multiple charges of witness intimidation, criminal coercion, official oppression and obstruction of justice.
Davis was relieved of his postmaster duties sometime in mid-January.
He was arrested and charged on September 16, after detectives with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office completed their investigation into Davis’ alleged misconduct.
According to court documents and testimony today before District Judge John Motznik, several employees saw Davis open express packages he had targeted coming from Texas, California, Washington and Florida in an effort to seize potential illegal drugs.
Josh Francis a postal supervisor testified that Davis would Google the sending and receiving addresses of packages, and if either one was a vacant lot he would open and search the package.
However, Davis’ alleged interception and opening of packages is illegal under federal law according to Sean Baer, a special agent with the Inspector General’s office, who testified that generally a search warrant is required before a package can be opened.
Baer also testified that is was not part of Davis’ duties or responsibilities to open packages, which is generally performed by postal inspectors.
When Davis became a postal employee in 1997 he signed an acknowledgement stating he understood he could not open mail, Baer testified.
Donna Clay a supervisor at the East Liberty Post Office testified she watched Davis open three or four express mail packages, but didn’t know what to think about it.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on. I questioned my manager about it, I wasn’t sure what he was doing.”
During a call from Davis to Clay’s cell phone last September, Davis told her he planned on trying to remove Clay’s supervisor Malvin Parker, and it was during this call Davis testified “You better not tell anyone you saw me opening packages.” He added, “The last time someone did that, that person is no longer here.”
Davis’s attorney, Joseph Chester pointed out under cross-examination that Davis’ statement was not an actual threat and could be taken many different ways.
“I took it as a threat,” Clay responded.
Clay also testified that on January 15 at the East Liberty Post Office, that Davis “Covered his face with paper and told me ‘If I tell anybody he would kill me,'” referring to her seeing him open packages.
Four postal employees in all—Donna Clay, Dwayne Mayo. Malvin Parker and Josh Francis—were called as witnesses who alleged that Davis threatened them with either physical harm or that he would attempt to get them fired, if they reported his package-opening activities to authorities.
Dwayne Mayo testified he watched Davis “cut open” an express package that contained drugs mixed in several coffee bags. Davis told Mayo to report the find to post inspectors, but if asked how the package was opened Mayo was to tell them “It was opened in transit.”
Mayo testified he received a phone call about two weeks later from Davis telling him not to tell investigators he saw him opening package saying “I’m the most ruthless [expletive] you’ll ever meet, don’t cross me.”
“I took it as a threat,” Mayo testified who requested a transfer to another post office where he would have less interaction with Davis.
A postal inspector testified that he relied on what allegedly turned out to be false information from Davis in applying for a search warrant for a package containing drugs. Davis told the inspector that the package had been “opened in transit,” not cut open by Davis which was witnessed by both Mayo and Francis.
During one of many objections Chester made during the hearing, he labeled the case against Davis as a “Byzantine employment case fluffed up with criminality.”
Chester said that Davis routinely opened packages in Toledo and last summer after coming to Pittsburgh, saying “How can something be alright all summer and suddenly in December the law change to a felony which wasn’t even charged?”
Chester said Davis has been placed on leave with pay. He earns a annual salary of $105,000.
