Back on July 31, Rosemarie Nahm went to the post office to mail a check. She used the drive-thru drop-off boxes at the front of the facility at 1525 Miramonte Ave. in Los Altos.
Nahm didn’t think anything of it until she received confirmation Aug. 4 that her five-figure check had been cashed. But when she looked at the image of the check that her bank provided, she became alarmed.
“It’s the same check. It has my signature, but everything else was washed and rewritten in somebody else’s handwriting. For the same amount,” she said. “Luckily, my bank has an insurance policy to cover for such loss, but I have been extremely concerned that the drive-by mailbox continues to be in operation without any warning or notice.”
The Miramonte office posted signs warning patrons not to use the drive-thru boxes after-hours, underscoring the increased risk of theft. But Nahm said she mailed her check during business hours.
About a month ago, she lost two more checks at the same drive-thru.
“My husband mailed two envelopes with paychecks for my mom’s caregivers down in SoCal,” Nahm said. “Neither caregiver received their check. I stopped the checks lest they be ‘washed’ and cashed by a criminal again. So, I have had two incidents involving mail placed in that outside mailbox in three months. I wonder how many others have been victimized and continue to be victimized. Why is this outdoor box still standing and people putting in mail in there?”
The Los Altos Hills resident contacted the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which handles law enforcement for the town. She also talked to police in Los Altos, where the post office is located. She was referred to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the law enforcement agency for the U.S. Postal Service. She has reached out to that agency, but has yet to receive a response.
“So, basically, no one will investigate my cases, neither the county sheriff, the Los Altos Police Department, nor the USPIS,” Nahm said. “Both (Los Altos and Los Altos Hills) departments are telling me that ultimately, it’s a federal office, and ‘I’m sorry that this happened, but ultimately, there’s not much we can do.’ I call (the Sheriff’s Office) and they came out and took time taking my information. And then at the end they say, ‘Well, the post office has their own enforcement agency, and we really can’t go beyond a certain point.’ I said, ‘Are you at least talking to them, sitting down at the table?’”
Ramping up security
In conversations with police and Miramonte Postmaster Anli Zhao, Nahm cited five separate cases of mail theft over the summer. The Town Crier confirmed that number in a recent interview with Zhao.
Zhao said she advises customers to drop off mail in the lobby indoors after-hours, where there is a surveillance camera. She added that her office is working on getting surveillance cameras for the drive-thru boxes to thwart theft attempts.
A recent tampering issue that has her concerned involves criminals inserting small, sticky objects into the drive-thru slots, which catch the mail intended for the mailbox space. There are at least two instances of this occurring, during business hours, Zhao said. As a result, the current drive-thru boxes are cordoned off and her office is looking to install more secure boxes.
“Do not drop the mail in there,” she said. “We cannot constantly watch the box.”
Despite the recent mailbox tampering, Zhao said a permanent shutdown of the drive-thru boxes is not yet an option.
“I know this brings a lot of inconvenience for the customers,” she said. “We want to protect our customers, we don’t want mail stolen from a box. … I know some of the residents here were upset already and blamed the (postal) service – ‘Why is that box still open?’ Now it’s the holidays and a lot of customers are sending gift cards and everything. I don’t want any mail stolen by anyone.”
Matthew Norfleet, spokesperson for the USPIS San Francisco division, said customers should call his agency directly to report any mail crimes.
“Not a lot of people know that we’re here,” he said. “People can call the postal service customer service line and report that, and it will get reported to the inspection service, or they can call inspection service directly. We do have a 24-hour dispatch number – (877) 876-2455.”
Norfleet said it’s important for people to report thefts locally, so inspectors know where to focus their efforts.
“Unfortunately, not everybody who reports a mail theft is going to get a call back personally from a postal inspector,” he noted. “A lot of times it’s too late to recover the mail, it’s gone. But we still need to know if there is a problem at that blue box.”
Norfleet said the USPIS in the past month or so raised the reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of mail thieves to $100,000.
“Mail theft is a crime,” he said. “The people who do it are criminals. When we catch them, they are almost always armed. Don’t intervene in the mail (theft) if somebody sees it happening. Call 911.”
