Brother of Man Convicted of Crimes Using U.S. Mail Also Conv...

Greenville, SC - A Calhoun Falls, SC, man whose brother was convicted last year for crimes using the U.S. Mail was himself convicted October 29, 2025, for fabricating false information in an attempt to exonerate his brother's conviction.

After a joint investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, Matthew Taylor Otto McCaslan, 35, was convicted of obstructing justice and making false statements to federal law enforcement. McCaslan faces a maximum prison term of five years for making false statements and 10 years for obstruction of justice.

McCaslan's brother, Chris McCaslan, 52, of Calhoun Falls, was convicted on August 15, 2024, for stalking, mailing threatening communications, and mailing hoax letters containing a white powder. The day after Chris McCaslan's verdict, Matthew McCaslan began creating false documents and told postal inspectors he had information proving other persons were responsible for his brother's crimes. Matthew McCaslan sought to use this information to have his brother's conviction overturned. Federal and state law enforcement officers investigated Matthew McCaslan's claims and found them to be false.

Matthew McCaslan claimed he saw individuals create the hoax letters and pour baking soda into the envelopes. Lab tests revealed that there was no baking soda present in the letters and detected his brother's DNA on the back of the stamp of one of the letters.

Matthew McCaslan also claimed that, although he saw the "real culprits" create the letters in October 2021, he sat on the information for almost three years rather than coming forward when his brother was first charged. He asserted that he did not come forward because of a threat from a local law enforcement officer. However, that officer died six months prior to Chris McCaslan's trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Watkins and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Culbreath prosecuted the case.