Decatur Police: Mail Theft Suspect Arrested
Decatur Metro | July 15, 2014 | 5:16 pm
Decatur Police just sent out this note and sent along a photo…
On 07/14/2104 at approximately 8:16 am, Decatur police responded to a suspicious person call on East Parkwood Road. A resident reported seeing a person taking mail out of mailboxes and provided a detailed description and direction of travel. An officer located the suspect in the 1100 block of West Howard Avenue carrying a bag with a large amount of unopened mail. When officers attempted to detain the suspect he tried to pull away but was handcuffed without further incident. Mail belonging to a total of 36 victims, to include credit cards and a driver’s license, from various addresses in Decatur, DeKalb County and Atlanta was recovered. The suspect, a 29-year-old male from Roswell, was charged with theft by taking, theft by receiving stolen property and obstruction of an officer.
Decatur officers have made several arrests in recent months for mail theft due to community members calling quickly and providing detailed descriptions and direction of travel after observing suspects taking items from mailboxes or going to multiple mailboxes. We want to thank everyone for continuing to watch out for your neighbors and calling when suspicious behavior is observed.
Mail theft continues to be a problem in Decatur as well as the Metro-Atlanta area. One of the easier prevention strategies is to install a locking mailbox insert or locking mailbox that allows mail to be placed through a slot by postal carriers but requires a key to open and retrieve the mail.
Photo provided by Decatur Police Department
So are they going to redeliver?
Don’t let my kid see this story–he’ll claim he actually wrote me every day from camp. . . .
That made me laugh! I couldn’t figure out why my child at 3 weeks of camp kept sending my father mail but never bothered to send anything to us. Then my father revealed that he puts $5 in his letters!
Remember that no mail (except the mandatory one letter per week) means that they’re having a good time. The one time a child was homesick at camp, we got plenty of mail and it was pitiful.
Way to go, Grandpa! Financial incentives!
Isn’t mail theft a federal offense? Seems like these guys should get more than a slap on the wrist.
Good point. I thought the Postal Inspector General, or some title like that, sends his/her special forces out to investigate. But the U.S. Post Office is a pale facsimile of its former self so maybe the local police have to pick up the slack.
If the hits of my quick Google search are correct, mail theft alone carries up to a 5 year sentence. But, the criminals almost never get the max penalty.
And who wants to pay for 5 years of jail for some dude stealing mail anyway? Not me. Community service. Substance abuse counseling if necessary. Career counseling. Job done.
Career counseling? You must be trolling.
Given how devastating identity theft can be, I don’t think mail theft is a victimless crime. The mail isn’t being taken for all those advertising flyers and checks in envelopes aren’t common anymore. So it’s mostly about identity theft, right?
Don’t forget the hug. He probably just needed a hug.
I do. There are plenty of types of crimes I don’t want to pay to incarcerate people for, but I have no problem payign to lock up mail thieves.