Tag Archives: mail theft

Code 911 in focus: A purse left behind solves a slew of crimes


If you need any more reasons to get a locking mailbox, this lady’s purse should provide a plethora of them.

Here’s the scoop: The purse was left behind Feb. 5 by a woman fleeing Walmart in Port Orchard. She’d been spotted stealing computer software and when a store loss prevention employee intercepted her, she made a bee-line for a car, according to Kitsap County Sheriff’s reports.

She dropped the purse in her flight. In doing so, she helped deputies solve a slew of crimes.

Here’s what was inside:

  • Twleve US Savings bonds worth almost $4,000 that had been reported in a burglary earlier this year;
  • Some meth;
  • Jewelry from the aforementioned burglary, as well as receipts, bills and documents from it;
  • Three residents’ Washington ID cards (none of which were hers);
  • A Washington state Fraternal Order of Police card belonging to an NCIS agent;
  • A Fed Ex package containing a man’s military service record;
  • Someone else’s IRS W-2 form;
  • Check stock used to make checks, along with five checks from five different accounts;
  • And finally, the likely tipoff to just how she got hold of all this stuff in the first place: A notebook that had many addresses of estate sales and, most notably, addresses of where to “check mailboxes,” deputies said.

Mail theft’s not a new phenomenon. You may recall a few years ago my story on a man who supported a meth habit by actually creating files for each person’s mail that he stole.

Mail theft, from what I can tell by reading police reports from around the county, appears to be on the rise again. And they’re not just taking mail, but packages left on front porches (For instance, the package found in this purse likely falls in that category).

A sheriff’s deputy worked to return all of the personal items found in her purse. And while she got away at Walmart, police eventually found the suspect (through a tip). She was booked into the Kitsap County jail early Wednesday, where she remains on $40,000 bail.

Have I sold you on getting a locking mail box yet?

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Poulsbo post office worker, convicted of mail theft, would like to apologize

This weekend, I talked with Paula Brown, the former Poulsbo post office employee recently convicted of stealing mail that contained gift cards and cash.

Brown wanted a chance to tell her side of the story. She’s apologetic and says the crime resulted in “the loss of my family, my friends and my dignity.” She also says she is quite ill and has lost 40 percent of her brain function. She does not wish to make excuses, she said, but she does not believe she was in her right mind when the thefts occurred.

She added that she’s endured the wrath of community members angry about the theft. Some have spit on her, pushed her and even burglarized her home, she claims.

Here’s what she wanted to say:

“I wish to sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been hurt by my careless and criminal actions while working at the Poulsbo Post Office. Those of you that cannot conceive of or forgive my actions, I understand. With the help of some excellent therapists and physicians, I am beginning to come to terms with how my illness contributed to what I did. However it may take the rest of my life to forgive myself for the harm I have caused.

For my victims who have suffered irreperable damage that the restitution that I am paying cannot heal, I can only say I carry your pain with great sorrow. Please do not lose trust or confidence in the postal service. They work very hard to serve the public. The employees at the Pouslbo Post Office are a great group of people, and do their jobs with honesty and diligence. I also would like to express my sincere apology to them and the postmaster. I would like to extend my apologies for any embarassment suffered by my family and friends.

In closing I can only say I am deeply sorry.”

 

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Crime reporter’s notebook: Heroin vapor, mail theft, guns in bars and more

Here’s some of my notes from the week of criminal justice:  

Heroin vapor: A Seattle man was arrested in Suquamish for a drug possession warrant Oct. 8, according to Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reports. Deputies searched him, they found a eye drop-like bottle filled with a brown liquid. The man admitted it was heroin and that he “inhales the liquid as a nasal spray” — a method of ingestion the cop hadn’t seen before. The man said he’d gotten hooked on opiates after an appendix surgery.

Stolen mail: A witness to a car sifting through mailboxes on Sandy Hook Road NE and Dock Street NE called 911, according to sheriff’s reports. A Suquamish officer in the area stopped the suspected car and the two people inside were interviewed. A bag of mail belonging to addresses in Silverdale, Poulsbo, and along Sandy Hook Road was spotted in the car. Both suspects have been charged by prosecutors with theft.

Seattle LEADS program: The Seattle Times reports a new program, to be run by Evergreen Treatment Services (who you’ll recall are the folks that tried to bring a methadone clinic to Kitsap) will attempt to break the incarceration cycle of some hardened drug addicts. Police on the streets will be the ones choosing the candidates for it. “No one knows if it’ll work, but the creation of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) has made partners out of professional adversaries and brought shared hope to those dealing with the ramifications of the country’s war on drugs,” Times reporter Sara Jean Green reports. “Funded by private foundations, the $950,000-a-year, four-year pilot program offers hand-picked participants individualized alternatives to arrest, from inpatient drug treatment and educational opportunities to housing assistance and microloans for would-be business owners.”

Guns-in-bars advocate arrested for DUI: A Tennessee lawmaker who spearheaded a law that allows the state’s citizens to carry guns in bars was arrested for DUI this week, reports the Commercial Appeal. In Washington state, it appears guns are banned in areas limited to those 21 and over.

Deputies catch another scrap metal thief: On Tuesday, Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies were called to an Olalla Valley Road address for a possible break-in to a for-sale home. When they got there, two deputies heard “ripping” sounds and when they announced their presence, it stopped. A man jumped off a roof and one of the deputies tackled him. The Olalla man, who deputies confirmed had been selling scrap metal, was tearing off sheetrock in the home to get at flexible conduit in the walls, deputies believe. He was taken to the Kitsap County jail for burglary. The theft of metal rages on.

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