Seei is indicted for destroying mail, including ballots.

An indictment is an accusation, and a not-guilty plea does not find that the mail was destroyed. A federal grand jury indicted Damon Matai Seei, 34, of Payson, Utah, on Sept. 16, 2026, on one count of unlawful secretion, destruction, and delay of mail. He is a former Postal Service letter carrier on an Eagle Mountain route. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday, Sept. 22.

The charge alleges that on or about June 3, 2026, Seei threw away mail entrusted to him for delivery, including approximately 300 mail-in ballots for Eagle Mountain residents for the June 23, 2026 primary, into a dumpster in a church parking lot. Reporting identifies the count as a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1703(a). Those are the allegations in the indictment. They are not a finding that he destroyed the ballots, and they are not a finding that any election result changed.

U.S. Marshals arrested him Tuesday morning. He was arraigned at the Orrin G. Hatch United States Courthouse in Salt Lake City and pleaded not guilty, the Associated Press reported. His next appearance is scheduled for Nov. 30. An arrest, an arraignment, a not-guilty plea, and a future court date are process. Prosecutors and court filings say he told investigators he acted to "lighten his workload" and out of "laziness." U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak and Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said at a press conference that no political agenda was indicated. A statement to investigators, as prosecutors described it, is not a guilty plea, and a press conference is not a verdict. The Associated Press reported that the count carries up to five years if he is convicted. That figure is a statutory maximum after a conviction. It is not a sentence. The Justice Department states that an indictment is merely an allegation and that a defendant is presumed innocent.