There is a story circulating on the Internet about a Spanish postal worker who allegedly got into the Guinness Book of Records for receiving the longest prison sentence. We checked how true this story is.
As reported in publications, the longest prison sentence in history was received in 1972 by postman Gabriel March Grandos from Palma de Mallorca, Spain. During his work, he allegedly failed to deliver and destroyed 42,768 letters, for which he was sentenced to 384,912 years in prison. Some sources claim that Grandos should have been released after 40 years (in 2012), others - that the Spaniard is still behind bars.
They wrote about this case over the years “Arguments and facts", Adme, JoyReactor, "Faktrum» «Rambler", TravelAsk etc. On social networks some publications with a story about a Spanish postman received more than 100,000 views.
In some countries, sentences for people found guilty of multiple crimes involve summing up the sentences for all proven episodes - resulting in criminals being sent to prison for hundreds of years or even several life sentences. This practice is typical for countries with Anglo-Saxon legal system (USA, UK, Canada, etc.). IN Spain, Russia and other states that belong to the Romano-Germanic legal family, punishments for several crimes can also be added in whole or in part, but the total term of imprisonment cannot exceed the limit established by law.
Holder of the longest sentence expressed in terms of life imprisonment (161), counts American Terry Nichols, participant in the 1995 terrorist attack in Oklahoma City. In absolute terms, the maximum period received Thai resident Chamoy Tipyaso, who was sentenced to 141,078 years in prison for participating in a financial pyramid in 1989. However, Thai legislation provides for parole for crimes related to fraud after 20 years, and taking into account the review of the case Tipyaso She was released in 1993.
How can you learn from Spanish? press started 1970s, 18-year-old Gabriel March Granados (not Grandos) took a job as a postman on the island of Mallorca in January 1968. Two years later, he was fired due to violations discovered in the man’s work.
The Palma de Mallorca post office decided to report them to law enforcement authorities. The police investigation found that Granados did not deliver a total of 42,768 letters to the recipients during his work, of which he opened 30,850 regular and 4,868 urgent letters with his own hand. The Spaniard embezzled checks in the amount of $9,536, 237,000 pesetas, 1,328 Swedish kronor and 20 German marks (a total of about €50,000 in today's equivalent). The prosecutor proposed sending Granados to prison for a term of 384,912 years (nine years for each of the undelivered letters), as well as a fine of 341.5 million pesetas (€19 million in modern money).
At the trial, the postman repented of his actions. The young man was found guilty of improper storage of documents and theft, but the judge qualified the actions of the accused as ongoing crimes, rather than thousands of individual violations. Granados was sentenced to 14 years and two months in prison and a fine of 9,000 pesetas. The further fate of the postman is not known for certain - apparently, after serving his sentence, he was released. In 2015, the Palma de Mallorca court considered case about the disappearance of a person with the same name, surname and year of birth based on a statement from his daughter, who had no news of her father for the last 13 years.
As for the photograph of the man that accompanies many stories about this case, it is not Granados that is depicted.
In fact this is Dudley Wayne Kaiser, who in 1981 was sentenced to 10,000 years in prison for the murder of his wife and even ended up in "Guinness Book of Records” as the recipient of the most severe sentence for a single crime. However, the American was subsequently given life sentences for two more murders.
Thus, the Spanish postman Gabriel Granados was not sentenced to 384,912 years in prison for undelivered letters - such a punishment was demanded by the prosecution, and the man was tried, among other things, for stealing checks from mail. In reality, he was sentenced to 14 years and two months. Additionally, the Granados story is being circulated with an incorrect photo.
Cover photo: screenshots from social networks
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