An El Paso County man will serve 27 months in prison for stealing 452 pieces of mail worth in excess of $24,000.

“The public must be able to rely on a safe and secure mail system,” said U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jason R. Dunn. “Hopefully others considering such crimes will see the serious penalties here and think again.”

In December 2018, police contacted Jeffrey Hermansen, 37, in a hotel room for an unrelated offense, but noticed an item of mail that was not addressed to him. They determined the package was stolen, and a subsequent search uncovered stolen credit cards, gift cards and checks in Hermansen’s possession. In total, the theft affected 33 victims.

The news comes as President Donald Trump and his campaign have attacked states’ expansions of mail voting during the pandemic, alleging that it will lead to fraud. There is no mention in the plea agreement that Hermansen had pilfered mail ballots.

The Heritage Foundation, which maintains a database of instances of election fraud, has documented 14 criminal convictions in Colorado since 2005. Although there were multiple instances of people forging other voters’ signatures to vote, in each case the perpetrator used the signature on a relative’s ballot. There was no indication of an unrelated individual’s stolen ballot being cast.