Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Mailbox thefts increase during holiday season

Rural mail carrier Janice Duffy with the United States Postal Service leaves the Durango Post Office on her route. Residents are encouraged to take precautions to protect incoming and outgoing mail from thieves, who are particularly active during the holidays.

Grandma sends a $20 bill. Aunt Susie sent an iPad for her favorite niece.

There is no more enticing time for mailbox thieves to hit than during the holiday season, said La Plata County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dan Bender.

“To thieves, mail left in mailboxes is an open invitation to steal your mail, including outgoing and incoming checks, cash, packages and items that allow thieves to steal your identity for their financial gain and your financial woes,” he said in a news release. “Recent local victims have had their checks stolen and cashed.”

Bender offered these tips to protect your mail:

Do not put outgoing mail, particularly checks and other pieces with financial or personal information in your mailbox. Drop it in a locked subdivision box or secure U.S. Postal Service boxes instead.

If you must put outgoing mail in your personal mailbox, put it in the box as close as possible to the time the carrier will pick it up.

Never leave mail in your mailbox overnight.

Take incoming mail out of the box as soon as possible after the carrier delivers it.

“Mailbox thieves can strike in broad daylight as well as at night,” Bender said, “following a couple of miles behind the mail carrier.”

To report information on thefts perpetrated in the last few days, contact investigator Jim Hendricks at 382-7018.

Discoveries of new thefts may be reported through the nonemergency number for the Durango-La Plata Emergency Dispatch Center at 385-2900.

abutler@durangoherald.com

Dec 10, 2013
Thieves target La Plata County mailboxes
Oct 31, 2013
County residents warned of mail theft


Reader Comments