Multiple areas dealing with stolen mail and stolen mailbox key

Credit: FILE

Credit: FILE

Police in multiple Ohio cities are investigating recent thefts of postal mail and a mail key.

A postal service key that unlocks all Dayton-area mailboxes was stolen recently, police records show. The key was taken from a mail carrier “a week back,” according to a May 14 police report. This was days before the Journal-News’ sister media outlet, the Dayton Daily News, reported a series of outdoor postal service drop boxes thefts were reported in Beavercreek, Dayton and Kettering.

Kettering police said they think an unknown number of checks were stolen in the thefts.

The report was filed after a Dayton post office manager notified police at 2:30 a.m. Saturday that he discovered the drive-up mailbox was open at 1111 E. Fifth St. building.

The post office manager said the key “unlocks all mailboxes in the Dayton area” and “that several mailboxes have been opened around different locations in the city since the key has been stolen,” the police report states.

The Dayton Daily News has reached out to the U.S. Postal Service and is awaiting a response.

The call to Dayton police came less than an hour after Beavercreek and Kettering law enforcement reported mail thefts from drop boxes outside post offices in those cities, documents show.

Beavercreek police saw at least one person flee the Dayton-Xenia Road post office in a minivan at about 1:45 a.m. Saturday, records show. An officer was unable to catch the vehicle after a short chase in which the driver ran a red light after leaving “at a high rate of speed” on Research Park Boulevard, a police report states.

All four drop boxes were later found open with two nearby “mail totes” empty except for one envelope and an alert was issued to surrounding law enforcement, according to the police report.

About 2:10 a.m. Saturday, Kettering police responded to a post office at 1490 Forrer Blvd. on a “self-initiated” theft complaint, documents show.

The thieves used a key to gain access to Kettering’s Forrer post office drop boxes and apparently later disposed of any mail that did not contain checks, Detective Vince Mason said.

BLUE ASH MAIL THEFTS

In Blue Ash, near Cincinnati, police arrested and charged five people from out of state with forgery in connection to an investigation into stolen mail.

In a press release, police said a citizen called Monday, May 16 to say a man was going through her mail on Waxwing Drive. She was able to provide the man’s vehicle description and license plate.

After a K-9 officer spotted the vehicle at the Red Roof Inn on Pfeiffer Road, Blue Ash police set up surveillance on the car and obtained a search warrant. When multiple people left a hotel room and went inside the vehicle, police arrested them. Additional people inside the hotel room were taken into custody.

The following people were charged with forgery and possession of criminal tools:

  • Jazmine Monet Jackson of Virginia Beach, Virginia
  • Johntavious West of Atlanta, Georgia
  • Denise Mayfield of Leeds, Alabama
  • Armand Anthony Brooks of Stone Mountain, Georgia
  • Roderick Lamar Davis of Atlanta, Georgia.

David was also charged with obstructing official business.

Blue Ash police said the investigation is ongoing, and additional charges might be filed.

Journal-News content partner WCPO contributed to this report.

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