PORTLAND, Maine — An Aroostook County man who admitted he spat in the face to a postal clerk last December was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to seven months in jail, or time served.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen also sentenced Derek P. Dow, 28, to one year of supervised release. Conditions of his release include that he receive treatment for mental health problems.
Dow was living on the streets of Portland when he was arrested on Dec. 21 and charged in an assault on a federal employee 11 days earlier, according to court documents.
He pleaded guilty to the charge in July after undergoing court-ordered psychiatric treatment to restore his mental competency, according to court documents. Torresen had ordered that Dow be treated for an undisclosed mental illness in February.
In July, Dow was released on $5,000 unsecured bail and ordered to live with his mother in Aroostook County.
In pleading guilty, Dow admitted that he became angry on Saturday, Dec. 10, when a clerk at the post office on Forest Avenue in Portland told Dow that he could not pick up his mail until the next Monday, Dec. 12. Dow’s mail had been put on hold until Sunday, Dec. 11, according to the complaint.
“Dow appeared to become upset with [the clerk],” the complaint said. “Dow then spit at [the clerk], hitting him on his right ear, the base of his neck and the left side of his face. Dow then walked away from the counter and left the building.”
The incident was captured on video, according to the complaint.
During a Dec. 12 interview with a postal inspector, Dow admitted spitting in the clerk’s face. The defendant said that “the government, the Portland police department and the post office were all part of a conspiracy against him and the Micmac Tribe of Native Americans,” the complaint said.
Dow faced up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
Not enough jail time…
The Postal worker should be allowed to spit in HIS face. Conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen. They’re in comment columns all the time.
Taze,billy club,pepper.Rinse and repeat.
Obviously, the spitting was not the reaction that should have happened….but, we have put our mail delivery “on hold” many times thru the years if away from home and a simple visit to the Post Office, if home early, always trumps the on hold and we pick-up the held mail and resume delivery…..when I get frustrated with the Gov’t or USPS I do my spitting when back outside……as far as the conspiracy theory, he may actually be on to something…..
This was a homeless man who received his mail at his parents’ address. The parents were the ones who placed the mail on hold. He wanted to pick up only his mail and leave the parents’ mail there; that’s not how hold mail works. If a mentally ill homeless guy spit in the face of a Police Officer, they would be criminally charging him with attempted capital murder.
Rude is just rude, no matter what your ethnic background.
Classic Porkland behavoir
Wow a bit much for a spit.
Yes , 7 months in jail is quite harsh for spitting.
He should have embezzled $50,000 instead.
And cried a little bit in court.
Then he would be out in no time at all.
Im glad Mr Dow, the victim of a ” conspiracy”, had his mental health restored.