Mail theft at San Jose apartment complex frustrates residents

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Residents in a San Jose apartment complex say their letter carrier was recently robbed of his master key. Now they say much of their mail is missing. 

The robbery took place at the Meridian Apartments in San Jose. Pauline Suarez said the thief recently cashed one of her checks.

"The person signed my husband's name and then pay to the order of and then his name," she says.

And she's worried they'll be targeted again.

"That leaves us vulnerable. We have to check our mail constantly," Suarez says.

They are not alone. Authorities say mail theft at community mailboxes has been up about 87% since the pandemic. Now, they're cracking down.

"It's the safety of the letter carriers that we're so concerned about as well as the protection of the mail," says Jeff Fitch, a U.S. Postal Inspector.

Just last month, investigators broke up a mail theft ring in Santa Clara, making 12 arrests. Congressman Jimmy Panetta is pushing the postal service to move to electronic locks.

Here's what security experts say you should take steps to protect yourself:

"Anything that you do not need delivered that can be picked up...go and pick it up. Anything that you can have sent to a PO Box, have sent to a PO Box," says Armando Gomez, CEO of VP Security.

The penalties for this type of crime are stiff; up to 10 years in federal prison. And there are rewards of up to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Residents are hoping for the thefts to stop.

"You depend on the U.S. Post Office and you depend on the mail. You're not supposed to be getting people breaking into your mail and assaulting postal workers. I mean this is crime," says Jennifer Jones, a resident.

Authorities say they do take this type of crime very seriously and that anyone who thinks they might have had mail stolen should contact police and postal inspectors.