Police Stamp Out Mail Thieves

The checks are in the mail--and Ventura County thieves know it.

Oxnard and Ventura police have broken up operations in which thieves are stealing mail from residential mailboxes, changing the names on any checks they find and cashing them.

A few days ago Ventura resident Jack Santoro noticed a young woman rifling through his mailbox.

“She was smoking and didn’t look like our regular mail carrier,” Santoro said.

Santoro, a writer and publisher who works out of his home, said he observed the woman stuff a few envelopes into her coat and continue walking down the street.

“I immediately called 911, and then watched her as she went checking out other mailboxes,” Santoro said.

A short time later a police officer came by his house to say that a woman matching the description Santoro gave had been picked up. Santoro was then asked to identify her.

“It was her,” he said. “They found a lot of mail on her. I was told that these guys work in teams and sometimes holed up in a motel. They have people taking the mail and then others who work bleaching out the names on the checks and then putting in new names.”

Santoro said that from now on he will be taking all his outgoing checks directly to the post office.

U.S. Postal Service inspectors said these types of thefts have long been a problem.

“Stealing outgoing checks has become very common,” said Pamela Prince, a spokeswoman for the postal inspection service. “We recommend that people either hand their outgoing mail directly to a mail carrier or that they take it to the post office themselves.”

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, armed thieves have stopped mail trucks to steal Social Security and welfare checks. In June of last year, Los Angeles County stopped mailing out welfare checks and the holdups ceased, Prince said.

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In Ventura County, the theft of mail has mostly involved small-time operators, Prince said.

Three weeks ago, Oxnard investigators arrested three people believed to be involved in a mail-theft ring there, when one of them attempted to cash a check on a closed account. In his car, investigators found two other suspects and stolen mail, said Sgt. Dan Christian.

“It’s amazing how quickly these people can clean out a street,” Christian said. “They just go down looking for mail sticking out of boxes or flags that are up and take whatever they find.”

The three suspected thieves--Grace Sonia Saipale, 29, Laureno Santos Labasay, 26, and Crisanto Bordallo, 31, were arrested Jan. 8.

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Only Saipale has pleaded guilty to the charges that she was in possession of stolen property. Police believe that the three suspects had tried to cash a stolen check for $671.95 from the Construction Laborer’s pension fund and a $500 personal check from an elderly woman’s mailbox.

The other two suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Meanwhile, police are attempting to let people know of the risks of mail theft.

“We’re trying to get the word out to people not to leave mail in the boxes, especially not sticking out of their boxes, because it will be snatched real quick,” Christian said.

Thieves will take envelopes addressed to utility companies knowing that checks are inside, he said.

“Oftentimes we don’t hear about it until a bill goes past due or canceled checks start arriving from strange places,” Christian said. “Sometimes we get lucky and can make [the thieves] on fingerprints left on the checks.”

The city of Ventura has had a series of similar thefts, said Sgt. George Morris. The Police Department broke up one ring last summer and another last fall, Morris said.

“What we’ve found is that little cliques of people are operating the same kind of deal but each have a different twist,” he said. “We had one group that were prying open mailboxes in apartment complexes. Others were simply cruising down a residential street and taking mail out of the boxes. Some of them are taking personal checks, others are stealing things like credit card applications and Social Security checks.”

In August, Dennis Dewayne Roach, 40, pleaded guilty to trying to pass a stolen check for $29,443.36 at Ventura County National Bank.

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In his report to the court, Ventura Police Det. Thomas Burke said Roach had been linked to passing stolen and forged checks as well as to a mail-theft ring that was using a stolen U.S. mailbox key to steal mail dropped in post office boxes. Roach was sentenced to two years in prison on the charges.

Along with theft, forgery or simple possession of stolen property, mail thieves also risk federal mail theft charges.

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Tips on Preventing Mail Theft

* Never use an unlocked residential mailbox to send out mail.

* Buy a lockable mailbox.

* Promptly pick up incoming mail.

* If you use a blue U.S. Postal Service mail collection box, drop the mail just before it is picked up. Do not drop the mail in those boxes if it is going to sit overnight.

* Write your checks out with Rollerball pens, felt-tip pens or fountain pens. The ink from those pens is harder to erase.

* Do not abbreviate the payee’s name on the check.

* Encourage your bank to ask for an inkless print from anyone cashing a third-party check.

* If you see suspicious activity or someone tampering with mail, call 911.

* The U.S. Postal Service pays rewards of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of mail thieves.

* To report a suspect or crime information to the Postal Inspection Service, call (626) 405-1200.

Source: U.S. Postal Inspection Service