Epidemic of Mail Truck Robberies Sweeps Southland : Crime: Gangs of thieves targeting welfare and Social Security checks are growing more brazen. Officials say the problem began spreading after the riots.

Gangs of thieves seeking government checks and credit cards are causing an epidemic-like increase in the theft of mail from postal trucks while carriers walk their rounds, according to federal authorities.

The problem began escalating in South-Central Los Angeles after last spring’s riots. It has spread across Southern California, authorities say. Thieves are on the prowl from Santa Ana to Ventura.

Since October more than 100,000 pieces of mail have been stolen from trucks in the Postal Service’s Los Angeles Division, which covers Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Total losses are unknown. Welfare checks totaling several hundred thousand dollars have been taken, officials say.

In the year that ended Sept. 30, postal vehicle break-ins in the region nearly doubled from the previous year, to 289. More than 200 have already been reported in the five months since then.

It’s an “epidemic-type situation,” said David H. Smith, the head Los Angeles postal inspector.

“It started picking up after the riots, then it just took off,” Smith said. “Before you could say boo, it jumped from five or six a check day to 25 or 40 a check day.” Check days are when public assistance checks are delivered.

Los Angeles postal inspectors recently broke up a gang that they think broke into trucks from Long Beach to San Jose.

The gang is believed to have brought illegal aliens across the border and then coerced them into smashing truck windows and grabbing mail trays. An alleged kingpin and two suspected accomplices are under federal indictment in Phoenix.

The three are accused of changing the names on stolen checks and depositing them in banks in Arizona. Gang members would withdraw cash from automated teller machines or write checks against the accounts, prosecutors say. When the arrests were made in January, one Arizona account contained about $24,000.

Vehicle break-ins are now “the major focus of my attention,” Smith said.

This type of crime comes in waves every few years, officials say, but the latest surge may be the biggest ever.

Among causes, they cite high unemployment.

“As people get more desperate for money, they resort to more desperate means,” postal inspector Pamela Prince said.

Another likely cause of the surge: The crime has become organized.

In a typical operation, “one central person is controlling a group of runners who are going out and breaking into the vehicles,” Smith said. “All it takes is one or two or three really smart operators.”

Gang members sometimes cash the checks using phony identification. Or they alter the checks and cash them at places that do not ask many questions. Stolen credit cards can be taken to Las Vegas and charged to the limit.

For a welfare recipient, the theft of a check can be a major problem. Getting a replacement can take months, officials say, despite their policy of making it a high priority.

“For some elderly people on Social Security, if their check is stolen they’re in dire straits,” postal inspector Ray Chavez said.

Prince says an underlying cause of the increase in break-ins is diminishing respect for the mail and mail carriers. If the Postal Service was once considered sacrosanct, last year’s riots showed that it no longer is. Several post offices were plundered. One was burned to the ground.

While stealing from unattended vehicles is the most common technique, recent incidents suggest that mail thieves are growing more brazen.

In August, a carrier in Redondo Beach was attacked by a man who cut him with a knife and stole a tub of mail. The attacker has pleaded guilty to assault.

In September, a female carrier was attacked in Los Angeles by two men who held a sawed-off shotgun to her chest, sprayed a chemical disabler in her face and grabbed 500 pieces of mail.

This month, two armed robbers stole a load of mail at a postal facility on Washington Boulevard near Crenshaw Boulevard.

Federal officers have started patrolling streets on check days, and the number of truck break-ins has dropped from more than 25 to 15 or 20 a day, Smith said.

Since October, 12 arrests tied to postal vehicle break-ins have been made in the Los Angeles district. An undercover task force hopes for more arrests, Smith said.

“We are getting more and more leads on who these people are, and we are getting closer and closer to getting identifications,” he said.

Burglarizing a postal vehicle and stealing or receiving stolen mail are punishable by up to five years in federal prison. Related offenses such as forgery, interstate transportation of stolen property and violation of organized crime statutes carry heavier penalties.

Postal officials are sending warnings to check-cashing establishments, the ultimate losers when a stolen check is traced back to them. Printed warnings tell how to spot phony identifications, altered checks and other signs of trouble.

Also, about 65% of the older delivery trucks in the Los Angeles district have been replaced with vehicles lacking rear windows.

To encourage public involvement, officials are giving talks to neighborhood groups and posting notices asking that people watch for suspicious activity around mail trucks.

“My job is to stop this,” Smith said. “If I have to do it by arrests, so be it. If I have to do it by public awareness, that’s great. We’re going to get them.”