Darien, CT
Police & Fire
Check Stolen From Darien Post Office Mailbox Altered, Cashed For $950, Police Say Check Stolen From Darien Post Office Mailbox Altered, Cashed For $950, Police Say
Check Stolen From Darien Post Office Mailbox Altered, Cashed For $950, Police Say Police in Darien are investigating the latest report of mail theft involving checks stolen from the Post Office. A Darien resident reported to police on Wednesday, Feb. 6 that on Jan. 13, he had placed three outgoing checks into a mailbox at the Post Office on Corbin Drive. The resident received a notification that week that an attempt to cash one of the checks had been made, but denied. A second check was altered and cashed for $950, police said, noting that the name on the cashed check was unknown to the victim. Police said that a second fraudulent charge to the victim’s account was disc…

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by Zak Failla
Fair Lawn-Glen Rock, NJ
Police & Fire
Glen Rock Resident Nearly Loses $5,800 Postal Box Check Theft Glen Rock Resident Nearly Loses $5,800 Postal Box Check Theft
Glen Rock Resident Nearly Loses $5,800 Postal Box Check Theft Another check stolen from a postal drop box almost cost a Glen Rock woman $5,800, authorities said. The victim mailed a check for $57.01 to an insurance company using the US Postal Service mailbox on West Plaza near the Source Building, Police Chief Dean Ackermann said Monday. Several days later, the woman received a call telling her “there was a problem with her credit card account and providing her with her checking account number,” Ackermann said. Suspicious of the call, the woman wisely contacted her bank, the police chief said. “The bank confirmed her suspicions that the call was a s…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Hackensack, NJ
Police & Fire
Rochelle Park PD: Mailbox Check Thief Caught, Released Rochelle Park PD: Mailbox Check Thief Caught, Released
Rochelle Park PD: Mailbox Check Thief Caught, Released Fighting the recent rash of nationwide postal box thefts, Rochelle Park detectives said they nabbed a man who deposited a check swiped from a burglarized postal box. As with nearly all of the recent area arrests in these types of cases, the defendant is from Paterson. It began In late November 2018, when two boxes outside the borough post office on Rochelle Avenue were broken into and several pieces of mail stolen – particularly checks, Detective Sgt. James DePreta said. Last month, a resident told police a check sent to her credit card company never arrived, DePreta said. Investigators w…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Paterson, NJ
Police & Fire
Hawthorne Detectives Charge Three In Mailbox Thefts Of $5,000 In Checks Hawthorne Detectives Charge Three In Mailbox Thefts Of $5,000 In Checks
Hawthorne Detectives Charge Three In Mailbox Thefts Of $5,000 In Checks Hawthorne detectives cut into the growing problem of mailbox theft by charging three Paterson men with cashing $5,000 worth of stolen checks in separate incidents. The victim in one of the thefts told police she mailed the checks at the borough post office sometime during the holidays. Soon after, she discovered the checks “had been altered and deposited into other accounts that she did not authorize,” Detective Sgt. Matthew Hoogmoed said. Borough detectives reviewed surveillance video and obtained subpoenas, then arrested Jayson Chinchay, 22, and Josty Guitierrez, 18, Hoogmoed said. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Darien, CT
Police & Fire
$60 Check Stolen, Altered, Cashed For $2.4K, Darien Police Say $60 Check Stolen, Altered, Cashed For $2.4K, Darien Police Say
$60 Check Stolen, Altered, Cashed For $2.4K, Darien Police Say Mail theft and mailbox burglaries continue to plague Darien police and postal officials, prompting an investigation after a check was stolen and cashed. Investigators at the Darien Police Department received a report from a local resident who stated that he put an outgoing check written for $60 in the post office box outside Corbin Drive on Jan. 13. Weeks later, on Jan. 29, when he checked his bank account, the complainant said that he found the check had been cashed, but for a total of $2,398.14 to an unknown party. The latest incident continues a trend in the area involving stolen mail -…

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by Zak Failla
Darien, CT
Police & Fire
Police On Heightened Alert After Trio Caught With 61 Articles Of Unopened Mail In Darien Police On Heightened Alert After Trio Caught With 61 Articles Of Unopened Mail In Darien
Police On Heightened Alert After Trio Caught With 61 Articles Of Unopened Mail In Darien Following a rash of mail thefts in the area, police “on heightened alert” arrested three men from out of state who were found to be in possession of dozens of pieces of stolen mail in Darien. An officer on patrol near the Darien Post Office on Corbin Drive at approximately 3 a.m. stopped a black Toyota Corolla with New Jersey license plates driving slowly in front of the building. As the car approached the marked police cruiser, the driver proceeded to suddenly stop and put its blinker on. According to police, “given the large number of recent mail thefts, the suspicious operation of the ve…

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by Zak Failla
Fair Lawn-Glen Rock, NJ
Police & Fire
Fair Lawn Detective Continues To Nail Mailbox Check Thieves Fair Lawn Detective Continues To Nail Mailbox Check Thieves
Fair Lawn Detective Continues To Nail Mailbox Check Thieves He did it again: A Fair Lawn detective continues to bust people cashing checks stolen from a local post office drop box. Once again, the missing item -- a cashier's check for $6,600 -- had been mailed at the Radburn Post Office. And once again, Detective Paul Donohue traced it. Donohue arrested 20-year-old Miguel Ortiz of Paterson, who "admitted to cashing the check into an ATM machine for another [person]," Sgt. Brian Metzler. Ortiz was released pending a court hearing on charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property. Meanwhile, an investigation was continuing. In recent …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Harrison, NY
News
Stolen Mail Can Lead To ID Theft, Westchester DA Warns Stolen Mail Can Lead To ID Theft, Westchester DA Warns
Stolen Mail Can Lead To ID Theft, Westchester DA Warns In the wake of several instances involving stolen mail in the area, officials in Westchester are offering advice to residents to avoid becoming the victim of opportunistic fraudsters.  Last year, police in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Tarrytown, Harrison, Purchase, Bronxville, New Rochelle, North Castle and other communities investigated incidents involving mail thefts. The incidents include curbside mailboxes that were broken into or opened with stolen keys or outright stolen. Thieves have also used “fishing” techniques to take mail from mailboxes, and “rural-style” mailboxes …

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by Zak Failla
Darien, CT
Police & Fire
Alert Issued For Thefts From Mail Boxes Throughout Fairfield County Alert Issued For Thefts From Mail Boxes Throughout Fairfield County
Alert Issued For Thefts From Mail Boxes Throughout Fairfield County Police have issued a warning to local residents regarding a number of mail thefts that have occurred in the area. The thefts have reportedly involved ongoing mail being taken from the United States Post Office depositories. Any checks in the stolen mail are then removed, altered and deposited into fraudulent accounts. Reports say other towns throughout Fairfield County are experiencing similar issues. The Darien Police Department is working alongside local post officers to upgrade depositories to theft-deterrent models. Here’s what local residents can do to limit their risk of outgoing mai…

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by Valerie Musson
Fair Lawn-Glen Rock, NJ
Police & Fire
Fair Lawn Detective On A Roll: Arrests Pile Up In Mailbox Check-Theft Cases Fair Lawn Detective On A Roll: Arrests Pile Up In Mailbox Check-Theft Cases
Fair Lawn Detective On A Roll: Arrests Pile Up In Mailbox Check-Theft Cases A Fair Lawn detective continued his recent streak of arrests connected to thefts from local mailboxes. Detective Paul Donohue arrested 20-year-old Franklin Peralta after a resident reported mailing a personal check from the Radburn Post Office, where dropboxes had been broken into, Sgt. Brian Metzler said. The $2,128 check never reached its intended recipient and, instead, had been cashed by someone else, Metzler said. Peralta, he said, “used someone else’s account to cash the check at an ATM, then paid the account holder $50.” He was released pending a court hearing on charges of theft b…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Trumbull-Monroe, CT
Police & Fire
USPS Collection Boxes Burglarized In Wilton, Weston USPS Collection Boxes Burglarized In Wilton, Weston
USPS Collection Boxes Burglarized In Wilton, Weston Two town police department are reporting break-ins at several U.S. Post Office boxes over the past week.  In Wilton, police report that during the overnight overs on Saturday, Jan. 5, and Sunday, Jan., 6, someone forced entry into the collection box located on the property of the Wilton Post Office at 15 Hubbard Road.  Similar activity was also reported in the Town of Weston with three USPS mailboxes located in the Weston Center were forcefully pried open and the contents removed on the same dates.  Two of the mailboxes are located outside of th…

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by Kathy Reakes
Fair Lawn-Glen Rock, NJ
Police & Fire
Fair Lawn Police Do It Again: More Arrests Made In Separate Mailbox Check Thefts Fair Lawn Police Do It Again: More Arrests Made In Separate Mailbox Check Thefts
Fair Lawn Police Do It Again: More Arrests Made In Separate Mailbox Check Thefts As the amount of checks and cash reported stolen from mailboxes continues to rise, so do the number of check-theft arrests that Fair Lawn police are making. This time, Detective Brian Rypkema arrested two Paterson residents: Evelin Fernandez, 39, deposited a $2,253 check into her account after it had been mailed at the Radburn Post Office by a member of the Fair Lawn Senior Center, Sgt. Brian Metzler said. Angel Sanchez-Ramos, 25, cashed a $1,302.38 check that had been mailed at a post office box on Dorothy Street, Metzler said. Both were released after being charged with theft by deceptio…

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by Jerry DeMarco