Wednesday, February 10, 2010

mail theft on S Street NW on 2/9/2010


See this 2/9/2010 message from a resident on the 100 block of S Street NW.



I thought it right to share an experience I had this afternoon, Tuesday, Feb 9th at 4 PM.

I had just delivered some mail including a Netflix envelope to the basement unit’s mailbox and was sitting in my bay window facing the street. I noticed a male and female walk by the path to the front door. She casually scanned the front and basement doors then walked onto my property to the basement. I observed her go down stairs then quickly return to the sidewalk and hustle to catch-up to her male friend. It seemed odd that if she were a friend of my neighbor, she would have knocked on the door and I would have heard it. I heard nothing. I looked in at the basement mailbox paper holder that was now missing the Netflix envelope. Looking down S Street, I saw her discard the brilliant red Netflix envelope that I delivered minutes before. I immediately followed after her west on S Street toward 2nd Street NW. I picked up the discarded and now empty envelope, checked the address (mine) and said to the girl "Excuse me, I think that you took my Netflix by mistake." With that she handed me the CD and proceeded to make multiple unrelated excuses. I pointed out that I watched her crane her neck to look down into the basement from the sidewalk, walk back six feet to my front walk, disappear down there, reappear and now there we were. More excuses.

Key to this is remembering the email traffic about similar experiences reported on this listserv including a missing gift card, credit cards, etc. (I also found a newly torn-up Wachovia document but could not identify its owner.) Fortunately, I had my phone and took the girl's picture. You will see that she is carrying a Scrabble board game under her arm. Suffice to say it is worth 1,000 words. Her male counterpart was African American, 6'2" 200 lbs, braided hair, three quarter length black winter coat, black pants and a black skull cap/winter cap. I didn't get a good look at his face as he only glanced over his shoulder, laughed and kept walking.

I called MPD who arrived in under 10 minutes, took careful notes and saw the picture. They checked and this is mail fraud and tampering with mail. It is a federal crime and not their jurisdiction. US Postal Inspection Service was called and a case opened. I highly suggest that the people who have experienced the same contact USPIS Mail Theft Division at 877-876-2455. You will have to navigate a couple of prompts but that is just to get your locality and the right local inspectors division. Alternatively call the general USPIS number at 202.636.2303.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good work! Thanks for your vigilance.

- Amanda on 2nd St. NW

Anonymous said...

Good to know who to look out for... All I can say is if I catch someone stealing my mail, it will NOT be a pretty sight.

Anonymous said...

That's our scrabble game that was stolen the other day! Ridiculous. Thank you for posting the picture.

Anonymous said...

Good work, Scott. These people are ridiculous. They don't have anything better to do then to steal someone else's property. I hope they throw the book at her. Did her parents not teach her anything? I can guarantee you that if someone had stolen HER Netflix DVD or board game, she wouldn't take it lightly.

Anonymous said...

This should also be reported to Netflix to have their criminal department investigate and press charges against people stealing their property. Especially, if there have been a string of netflix movies missing from the same neighborhood, they can investigate and press charges. Please contact netflix with these details and photos, they will be quite interested. They have to eat charges for such thefts.

Anonymous said...

GREAT point about NetFlix investigating and pressign charges. It sounds like it might be one of her MO's.

Anonymous said...

Great work! I was the victim of identity theft a few years ago when I lived on Logan Circle, all due to stolen mail from an exterior mail box. Once I discovered it, I had a mail slot cut in my door. I also will laud the work of the Postal Inspector who took on my case, which was eventually resolved with the apprehension of a guy that was terrorizing that neighborhood and was juggling 20+ identities. Beware, stolen Netfilx will be the least of your worries if your mailbox is unsecured!

Anonymous said...

This is so ridiculous. I am the one who had the gift card stolen out of an envelope. Are they just bored or what?? What the hell is a scrabble board game worth? Seems like stealing just to steal. I hope we can catch these people soon. Nobody order anything valuable and if you do, make sure to set it so it requires a signature to be dropped off.

Anonymous said...

Folks, our outrage is fine but this is one of the few opportunities we have to do something about it. There's a clear picture of the thief with the goods! Hoping won't stop her. There are at least two counts, tampering and stealing, per address on this thief! Please, call the Postal Inspectors and open a case.

Anonymous said...

I did report the theft to the police and to the Postal service right after it happened. I just also wanted to vent on this public forum and try to network with other neighbors about it. I don't see why anyone would have a problem with that. Posting the picture and getting the word out through blogs and listservs IS doing something about it. I wouldn't be so quick to judge the victims, especially if it hasn't happened to you.

Anonymous said...

This really has nothing to do with the post, but I was just wondering why people are no longer signing their names to their posts?

Mat on N Capitol

Anonymous said...

i have about 3 packages missing. i'm a new resident off of P. this is ridiculous. do i just call the number listed?

Anonymous said...

On the flip side of this, does anyone know how to get in touch with someone that used to live at your place and continues to get a package? For those who know her, Sadie Ward keeps getting some cell phone delivered to my house. It's happened like 4 times now and I just want to pass it along. Email me at struggle09@yahoo.com if you know this girl.

Mat on North Capitol