Police: USPS worker arrested after breaking into woman’s home, exposing himself
By: Chloe Leshner
cleshner@abc6.com
@chloeleshner
BRISTOL, R.I. (WLNE) — A postal worker in Bristol was arrested after allegedly breaking into a woman’s home and exposing himself. The victim is speaking out, only to ABC 6, warning others to be aware of out of the ordinary behavior.
The victim noticed something was off immediately. Her normal mailman hadn’t been working and the new one, for some reason, brought some mail directly to her door.
MJ Flatley has lived in her house for decades. She knew something was up as soon as she met her new postal worker.
"Instead of my mail being brought to my mailbox, it was brought to my door, my door opened, and there was no reason for that because it was simply a flier," she says.
According to the police report, Eric Shea did that a few days in a row before things escalated. On August 10, police say he got into Flatley’s house through the side door, exposing himself to her in her kitchen.
She says despite everything she was able to stay level headed.
"This guy is crazy and I gotta get him out of my home," Flatley remembers thinking in the moment.
Flatley walks with a cane and says she used it to defend herself.
"I said get out of my house. I said I lived here a long time, I know all of my neighbors and I said additionally, my brothers a cop, my father was a cop, my grandfather was a cop," she says.
She called police and Shea was later arrested in Warwick, charged with breaking and entering and simple assault. Flatley says she was left feeling unsettled for days especially because he was a government worker.
"They know your name, they know your address, they know the members of your family that live there," she says.
But shes not going to let this cause her to live in fear.
"I’m not going to let this change how I live my life and how I’ve lived it for 64 years," she says
Shea has been an employee at the Bristol Post Office since October of 2017. Despite his arrest he still works there but he’s not allowed to interact with customers.
(C) WLNE/ABC 6 2018
