Sep 30, 2015 3 min read

The Pittsburgh postmaster accused of threatening co-workers who saw him opening packages containing drugs was ordered to stand trial on all charges following his preliminary hearing Wednesday in Pittsburgh municipal court.

Daniel Paul Davis, 50, of Canonsburg, faces charges of obstruction of justice, and four counts each of intimidation of witnesses, criminal coercion and official oppression. Davis has been free since Sept. 15 after posting $10,000 bond.

One of the subordinates whom Davis allegedly threatened, Donna Clay, testified that she observed Davis open packages at the post office in East Liberty in 2014 and he called her several weeks later on her personal phone. Clay said Davis told her she “better not do anything, as he was going to take another employee down and that could happen to me … I didn’t know if he meant that person would be dead or unemployed. I took it as a threat.”

Another Postal Service employee, Dwayne Mayo-Jones, testified that he observed Davis rip open coffee bags that contained narcotics, which were removed from sealed Express Mail packages.

“He called me a few weeks later and told me he was the most ruthless (expletive) I’d ever meet and I shouldn’t cross him,” Mayo-Jones said.

A postal supervisor, Josh Francis, said he and several other employees were told to watch out for specific packages.

“Dan (Davis) told us to look for special Express Mail packages bound up with tape, so there would be no smell coming through, and to watch for packages from Texas, Florida, Colorado, New York and Washington, and that if any (investigators) talked to us, to explain to them that the packages opened in transit,” Francis testified.

Davis’ attorney, Joe Chester, argued that his client was merely doing his job as he had in Toledo, Ohio, where he had previously been postmaster and where no one had raised complaints. He argued that Davis was looking for packages containing drugs to remove them from distribution, and that he had the authority to open them.

“This is nothing but an employment (grievance) fluffed up with alleged criminality,” Chester said, explaining he doesn’t believe the case should go to trial because the allegations stem from federal law, but Davis hasn’t been charged with any federal crime.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Catanzarite argued before Judge James Motznik that those charges don’t necessarily have to be filed for witnesses to be intimidated or threatened. No one indicated whether Davis would be charged by federal authorities.

Chester told reporters that Davis has not been doing postmaster duties since January, but continued working. He has been suspended since the charges against him were filed. It was not known if he is being paid his $105,000 salary. Davis’s formal arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 18.