Mail theft crimes have spiked in the La Cañada and La Crescenta area in the last three months, according to a Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station spokesman.
Sgt. Ray Harley said mail fraud has affected 25 victims in La Cañada and La Crescenta since Oct. 1.
Harley said there were fewer than 10 mail thefts reported between January and September 2009.
“Part of this boils down to crimes like this, the [perpetrators] tend to go into wealthier communities or communities with curb-side mailboxes,” Harley said. “There’s been a rise.”
Though they peaked during the Christmas season, several crimes occurred so far this month, according to reports on file at the CV station.
On Jan. 7, a victim of mail theft in La Cañada received notice that a check to an insurance company he mailed out in December had been cashed by an unknown party. The victim also reported his mail and security camera werestolen from his home in mid-December.
On Jan. 8, four victims of mail theft were reported in La Crescenta.
“Some people have been reporting their mail missing or finding their mail and mailbox in the street,” said U.S. Post Office 91011 supervisor Thomas Roeder. “There was also a mailbox found [that had been] set on fire.” Roeder added that mail crimes tend to rise over Christmas.
Mostly, Harley said, the criminals are looking for checks — blank or signed.
“They’re looking for a variety of things,” Harley said. “Sometimes during Christmas, people send cash, checks or gift cards by mail. Sometimes they’ll receive courtesy checks, which are blank checks a bank sends to a customer to spend on large purchases.”
One of the most dangerous things about mail theft, Harley said, is that it’s easy to not notice mail as a stolen item, either as outgoing or receiving mail.
On Dec. 22, German Martinez, 22 of Los Angeles, was found with mail stolen from 16 different victims in La Cañada and La Crescenta. Harley said only “one or two” of the victims reported the crimes.
Martinez is currently being held in Twin Towers Correctional Facility on $185,000 bail. He faces fines and possibly more than the one year in jail for one count of receiving stolen property and two counts of forgery, said district attorney’s office representative Jane Robison.
