“guy literally has a master key to our mailboxes…”

Update: “got a call from a MPD detective is looking into the case. Just wanted to note they did reach out this morning.”

“Dear PoPville,

This issue started for me in October, when I woke up one Monday morning to an email from my bank saying my checking account had a low balance. But how could that be, I just got paid from my two jobs on Friday? Ultimately, a check I wrote to a nonprofit was intercepted in DC, never made it to its destination, and we didn’t know how the check got into the wrong hands.

Flash forward to 11/7, I’m working from home next to my window that faces our cluster community mailbox. There is one on my side of the street and one directly across 3rd place, both within view of my window. I happened to glance up and notice a person dressed in all black, with their hood up, and a COVID surgical mask on (solo an outside mind you) check the mail of the box on my side of the street, and then go to the other side, and check that box. I thought, why would someone have a key to two mailboxes? I then realized the person hadn’t opened a personal mailbox compartment, but the outgoing mailbox compartment where letters are placed for pick up. And they had a key. Voila – I got my answer to how my check was stolen.

It never left my street. I ran out of the house and followed this person far behind to see where they went next, and it was to more mailboxes in our community. After I emailed the community listserv, at least 3 other neighbors chimed in noting they had recently had mail that never made it to their destinations. However, unless you have proof of tampering like I did, many might assume something was just “lost” in the mail. 

I didn’t get a license plate number from 11/7, but I had a photo of this person from my ring and a video from a neighbor who faced another mailbox.

I emailed our community, filed a report with the US Postal Inspector, talked with our normal USPS delivery man, and a USPS supervisor. I also emailed all my observations, the video, and photo to the MPD. After all that flurry, I didn’t hear anything. No actions were taken. The MPD acknowledged my information and said it would be added to an “investigative file.” After all this, I stopped placing my mail in the community boxes and moved on.

Flash forward to this past Sunday 12/18. I was at my home desk all day trying to finish all my semester’s grading, and I saw a silver Mercedes pull up and another man dressed in all black (but no mask this time!) get out and use a key to open the outgoing mailbox. He goes to the other side of the street and does the same. I called 911 to report it immediately and my husband went outside to scare him off. I went outside and got his plate (which was probably fake, it was black and white and looked like it was printed out).

When I called 911, they said someone would call me back to take a statement. They called back an hour later (when the criminal was LONG gone) and then told me if he didn’t steal MY mail today, there was nothing they could do. They didn’t want the footage, the license plate, nothing. I said I was shocked, and they said again nothing they could do and hung up.

This initiated another round of alerts: emailed the community, gave up on the police, called the USPI again. When I called and asked to follow up on my first report, they couldn’t find it. Filed another report over the phone. Others tried tweeting about the ongoing incidents since nothing else was working, which finally resulted in a response from the USPI over twitter. They requested to see the video and gather other details about the latest event. I’m grateful for the acknowledgement and hope it will lead to help.

So where are we now? Well, as far as I can tell, our neighborhood has been on the hit list of some organized crime group since at least September. The people I saw harvest the boxes in November/ December had different cars. My bet is that there is a list of boxes and some group has a schedule to collect the content on an ongoing basis. I think they like to hit the boxes Sunday afternoons, when people have had a weekend to fill them before pickup happens on Mondays. After some googling, I also found the person who tried to cash my check, who appears to be a criminal in Arlington, VA. Now do I know for sure this guy took my check, no, but the name is unique, and he is local, so it’s not unreasonable to put two and two together.

What we are facing is an organized, ongoing operation in our neighborhood. I don’t know how widespread it is, but I imagine this group has boxes all over the city. It’s no surprise that this is happening throughout the country:

https://6abc.com/mail-theft-stealing-packages-mailman-robbed-philadelphia-crime/12580159/

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_b886b930-0f74-11ed-b75a-d7a0df74efe5.html

But I haven’t heard much discussion about it in DC. People should know what we are up against and not place mail in these compromised boxes until we have a solution for the keys. If mail is not making it to its intended destination, it may be compromised. However, I had also heard that sometimes criminals will leave SOME mail in the boxes so that USPS isn’t tipped off. It is hard to catch these guys. It’s an easy crime to commit. But we should all be able to send and receive mail in our neighborhoods. I must imagine right now is also PRIME TIME for them given the holidays. Please help spread the word so people aren’t taken advantage of. I’m sick of being a victim and sick of them benefiting from stealing mail in our neighborhood.”