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Ohio attorney Richard J. Steinle was arrested last week and charged with mailing injurious articles. Because he mailed poop to politicians. And not like once or twice — not like that’d be okay, mind you — but three dozen times. Man, I’m a big advocate of overworked lawyers getting hobbies, but GET A NEW ONE.
According to prosecutors, federal agents watched while Steinle put contaminated mail into a mailbox while wearing a glove. That mail was a greeting card with a dollar bill in it, just like Grandma used to send… but also with feces, which is not how my Grandma would sign her cards. That particular non-Hallmark greeting was addressed to U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. And like, he’s definitely a shitbag, but you don’t send him shit mail.
The Akron Law School graduate was a mediator for the Portage County Common Pleas Court from 1999 to 2017 when he was fired from the position. After his arrest, Steinle was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond and told not to contact anyone he allegedly sent the feces-laced mail to.
A postal inspector began the investigation after three Ohio state senators received feces mail with “pig and racist” written on them. From there it expanded. As reported by Law360:
Three days later, the state capitol’s sergeant-at-arms said their office also received letters with feces in them addressed to politicians. Other elected officials in Ohio, Kentucky and Washington, D.C., also reported receiving letters, which had the initials “LKF” and locations in Akron and Kent for return addresses. One of the addresses was for the Ninth Ohio District Court of Appeals, the complaint stated.
The U.S. Marshals Service on June 14 interviewed the Ninth District’s administrator, who told them a staff attorney had the initials LKF. While that attorney said they did not send the letters, they stated Steinle may have, as one of the return addresses was for his former residence, according to the affidavit.
But those initials were a red herring or poorly constructed framing job, according to authorities. They interviewed a Ninth District staff attorney with LKF initials who denied sending the poop mail, but did point the finger at Steinle as the return address on one of the letters was for his former address. And there’s more:
The attorney told investigators Steinle had said he thought the government was watching him and that his firing from the Portage County court violated his free-speech rights, the affidavit stated.
Steinle also regularly used the attorney’s initials when corresponding with them. Finally, the attorney said they believed Steinle blamed them because their spouse, also a lawyer, declined to represent him in a civil suit against Portage County Common Pleas Judge Lori Pittman, the affidavit states.
On July 22, employees of a post office in Summit County found three soiled letters in a collection box addressed to elected officials in Columbus with similar return address information, the affidavit said.
All this led to federal agents following Steinle for five days, and that’s when they observed him mailing the feces-laced letter to Jim Jordan. At least they didn’t catch him dropping the kids off at the pool.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
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