WARREN COUNTY — Three men are accused of breaking into the drop box at a Warren County post office and stealing mail.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00 & 6:00, the I-Team found that mail theft remains a significant problem, nearly three years after first reporting on how widespread the crime is.
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The criminals pulling off mail theft are often after bulk mailboxes like the big blue ones found outside post offices.
They do it to get access to hundreds of pieces of mail at once, to steal money and identities on massive scales.
“I know it’s a problem,” Dayton resident Betty Dawson said.
News Center 7 is still hearing from people changing their mailing habits due to the theft.
Dawson said she will “never” use the blue mailboxes again.
“I told my husband not to do it either,” she said. “I take it in.”
To protect their mail and their money.
“I generally take it inside,” Dayton resident Cecilia Jenkins said. “If there’s a problem with the box, I don’t have to worry about it.”
Springboro police said they learned about a problem with the drop box outside the post office on North Pioneer Boulevard.
>>RELATED: 3 arrested in string of mail thefts from local U.S. Postal box
They got complaints from people saying their checks were getting stolen and washed.
“You have one, you think it could be a coincidence. But once you start receiving more and more reports and you realize that they had all been mailed from the same place. Then we reached out to the postal inspector,” Springboro Police Department Officer Aaron Morgan said.
Working together with federal investigators, Springboro police caught their suspects on Sunday during a stakeout.
“They were actually putting their hands into the box and using different devices to grab the mail,” Morgan said.
Court documents show the devices were sticky mouse traps.
Police arrested these three men: Carlos Patricio Sanchez-Guzman, Yahir Nazario Reyes, and Joshua Hernandez.
Authorities and Warren County Prosecutors tell the I-Team that they’re talking with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Postal Inspectors to determine whether the trio will be prosecuted in state or federal court.
“Getting checks (and) personal information from people and then washing those checks and making them for different amounts,” Morgan said.
Police said one of the suspects is in the country illegally.
Warren County Prosecutor said his understanding is that it’s Sanchez-Guzman, and he has an ICE warrant. News Center 7 reached out to ICE to ask about his case.
Postal Police Officers Association National President Frank Albergo said mail theft is still an “epidemic,” but it’s changing.
“Mail theft has not gotten any better. In fact, it may have gotten worse,” Albergo said.
Albergo added that the number of letter carriers getting violently robbed many times at gunpoint, some even here in the Miami Valley, has decreased.
In a series of I-Team investigations, News Center 7 has reported on how letter carriers are often targeted for their arrow keys.
These are master keys that open bulk mailboxes.
While Albergo said the violent crimes have dropped off, mail theft is still on the rise as criminals find new ways to steal.
“What they’re doing is targeting the delivery points where they can steal the most mail. So, they’re hitting collection boxes, apartment panels, relay boxes, delivery vans, loading dock, carrier push carts," Albergo said. “So why risk a violent robbery when you could just steal bag loads of mail?”
It can have devastating consequences.
“A personal check has a lot of information on it. So, once they get that check, once the criminals get their hands on that check, they go to town. They open up fraudulent accounts, they drain your bank account, they steal your identity. Basically, it’s a data breach,” Albergo said.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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