By Dave Lieber
watchdog@star-telegram.com
Today we learn about a federal agency solving one of our problems.
In 2009, The Watchdog kept hearing from readers that the blue mail collection boxes outside area post offices were an easy target for thieves. Mail bandits fished mail out of the boxes and used checks and money orders found inside for identity theft.
Authorities don't release much information, but readers helped me piece it together.
The Watchdog filed an open-records request seeking federal records, and what came back was stunning.
Fort Worth and Tarrant County led the nation in thefts from blue boxes outside post offices. Fort Worth's boxes were hit 40 times in a year, and Arlington had 28 break-ins. One box in Arlington was hit eight times. In 2010, 1 in 7 mailbox thefts in the nation happened in Fort Worth.
The Watchdog wrote an open letter to the U.S. chief postal inspector requesting that our epidemic of collection box raiding become a top enforcement priority.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is not an organization to brag, at least not in North Texas, where its public comments are limited. Crooks aren't paraded in front of cameras. Glory is not part of the temperament of a Fort Worth postal inspector.
My first clue that something was happening came because I no longer received tips from readers about mailbox thefts. So I checked federal court records for recent cases of mail theft. There are plenty. The feds have been busy these last couple of years arresting and convicting.
Postal Inspection Service spokeswoman Margaret Williams says there "absolutely" was a concerted effort to clamp down on mail theft in Tarrant County.
"Once we are made aware of something like this, we definitely aggressively investigate the situation until we come up with a resolution."
Some examples:
Inspectors broke up an 11-member crime ring that used victims' accounts to negotiate counterfeit payroll checks. "The suspects successfully completed 27 out of 29 fraudulent transactions attempted at various Frost Bank branches resulting in $56,291 in losses," court papers state.
Some ring members were sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Most of those caught for mail theft are not captured while stealing. They are picked up after investigators use clues found when thieves assume the identities of others.
In one case, Richard L. Tabor and Tabatha R. Dooley drove in a truck at night from post office to post office. They didn't know they were under postal inspectors' surveillance. After the two drove to post offices in Arlington and Kennedale, where they hovered at the outdoor boxes, inspectors stopped them. Inspectors looked inside their truck and saw what appeared to be stolen mail and fishing tools.
Tabor and Dooley pair confessed they had been stealing mail for a month. They told inspectors they each cashed 75 money orders and checks, according to a criminal complaint. Inspectors found stolen U.S. mail and 250 stolen checks worth $200,000 in the truck.
Dooley was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Tabor received five years.
Going 'fishing'In another criminal complaint, a postal inspector tells how the thefts usually occur: Fishing' is described as utilizing a weighted object attached to a string covered in a sticky substance (typically rat trap glue or melted glue sticks) and placing the object in a blue USPS collection box to retrieve outgoing U.S. mail."
Don't get angry at The Watchdog for sharing methods. The crooks already know this. I want to show you how easy it is.
The Postal Service recommends that customers don't mail letters in outdoor boxes after the last daily pickup. It suggests that customers go inside and use an indoor mail slot. (The Watchdog recommends never using outdoor collection boxes; always go inside.)
The Watchdog gives a bark of gratitude to postal inspectors for making a big dent in Fort Worth and Tarrant County's mail theft problems -- specifically the Mail Theft/Violent Crimes Team for the Fort Worth Division.
Thanks for the crackdown. When government does something right, The Watchdog notices.
The Watchdog column appears Fridays and Sundays.Dave Lieber,817-390-7043Twitter: @davelieber
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