Gabriel March Granados: The World’s Longest Prison Sentence
Gabriel March Granados faced a sentence of 384,912 years in prison for stealing over 40,000 letters. Photo: BusinessKhabar
In Spain, a 22-year-old postman named Gabriel March Granados faced a potential prison sentence of 384,912 years for neglecting to deliver 42,768 letters.
Who was Gabriel March Granados?
Gabriel March Granados was an 18 year old man living in Mallorca, Spain when he was employed by the Post Office on January 28th, 1968. He continued working there for a period of two years.
Eventually people started complaining that they weren’t receiving their mail. All of the complaints were tied together by one factor: they were supposed to have been delivered by Gabriel March Granados.
Following an investigation into Gabriel's work, the prosecutor of the Provincial Court of Palma de Mallorca brought charges against him in March of 1972.
The trial and Sentencing of Gabriel March Granados
A video detailing some of the longest prison sentences ever given, including our friend Gabriel March Granados
The government's findings indicated that Gabriel had 42,768 crimes related to mishandling documents and theft, specifically in relation to his failure to deliver over 40,000 pieces of mail during his two-year stint as a postman.
During Gabriel's trial, he admitted to hiding mail in various locations throughout his office and home, disposing of personal documents and keeping valuable items such as checks and cash for himself. According to the publication, Gabriel opened 30,850 regular and 4,868 urgent parcels that contained checks equivalent to around $50,000 in value today.
Prosecutors sought a record-breaking prison sentence for Gabriel during the trial, requesting that the judge sentence him to 384,912 years, which would equate to nine years for each piece of mail that he failed to deliver. Additionally, they wanted Gabriel to pay approximately $20 million in fines, which is roughly 400 times the amount of the checks he took from the stolen letters.
The prison sentence requested for Gabriel was unusually lengthy and even exceeded what the world's most heinous criminals have been given.
The judge presiding over Gabriel's case evidently found the prosecutor's demand for such a long sentence to be absurd.
Ultimately, Gabriel was convicted on only two criminal charges and was imprisoned in Spain for 14 years and two months. After completing his sentence and paying his fines, Gabriel was released from custody.
Where is Gabriel March Granados now?
Gabriel disappeared from the public eye not long after being released from jail. Hopefully he is out there living a happy life, having learned from his mistakes.
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