The U.S. Postal Service has announced that a letter of resignation by former Lake Havasu City Postmaster Deborah J. Tinnell will not be made public, one month after she was taken into custody on nine misdemeanor counts of shoplifting.
Following Tinnell’s arrest early last month, Today’s News-Herald filed a Dec. 19 public records request to obtain a copy of Tinnell’s letter of resignation with the postal service. On Friday, USPS Government Information Specialist JaLisa Joshua issued a response to that request, which has now been denied.
According to Joshua’s response, USPS will not confirm nor deny the existence of a letter of resignation penned by Tinnell, as doing so may compromise Tinnell’s personal privacy. Joshua said that any confirmation of that letter’s existence by the agency could result in the release of personal information and/or the disclosure of personal decisions by Tinnell.
“We do not consider that there is a public interest in the disclosure of the requested information that is sufficient to outweigh the privacy interests of (Tinnell),” Joshua said. “The only public interest to be weighed is the extent to which disclosure would service the ‘core purpose’ of the Freedom of Information Act, which is to contribute significantly to the public understanding of the operations and activities of the government.”
According to Joshua’s response, the U.S. Postal Service will not confirm, deny, or even search for records of Tinnell’s letter of resignation with the Lake Havasu City Post Office.