Thefts prompt sealing of mail slots

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2001 | 10:22 a.m.

Evelyn Threadgill enjoys the convenience of having a community collection mailbox across the street from her home in Henderson's Sun City Anthem -- especially the outgoing mail slot.

However, U.S. Postal Service officials said Wednesday that because of widespread thefts of mail from outgoing boxes, the agency will begin sealing them on the 17,000 multi-box units in housing developments throughout Southern Nevada.

"I am going to miss it when they seal it," said Threadgill, as she checked her mail at a unit on Fieldbrook Street -- one of many dotting the upscale all-senior housing community. "There are seniors who can't get around as well as I can, and I know they are going to miss this convenience."

The problem stems, postal inspectors and Metro Police say, from methamphetamine dealers using the chemicals that manufacture the drug to wash stolen checks, then rewrite and cash them.

At least two dozen people have been indicted or face indictments in mail theft cases that, according to confiscated washed checks, could have netted $400,000 to $500,000, Metro forgery Detective Gene Olewinski said.

Because possession of stolen mail is only a misdemeanor under state law, Metro is working with Postal Service inspectors to secure federal felony indictments that carry maximum five-year sentences. Olewinski says he will ask state lawmakers to make mail theft a felony.

In the meantime, Olewinski says banks are working to make newer checks washproof. Checks written in felt-tip pens cannot be washed because the ink will simply blur.

Las Vegas Postmaster Tom Peterson said developments in the 89129 ZIP code in the city of Las Vegas -- which has been hard-hit by thefts -- will be the first to have outgoing slots sealed, followed by other areas in a process that should take about one year. He noted that in the last year 220 units have been vandalized, 110 of them in September.

"This month we are on pace to double that," Peterson said, noting that vandalism damage has cost the local post office $20,000 to $40,000 in the last year.

Peterson and other postal officials acknowledge that some customers, like the elderly, will be inconvenienced.

In the 89129 zone, for example, there are 1,280 units that will have outgoing slots sealed, and five freestanding mailboxes. There are 381 blue mailboxes in the city of Las Vegas. The number of blue mailboxes in Clark County, Henderson, North Las Vegas and other local areas were not immediately available, but total several hundred, postal officials said.

"We know this is going to be inconvenient for some, but the minuses of a senior having his outgoing check stolen, washed, rewritten and cashed by a thief far outweighs the minus of having to go a block or two farther to put his mail in a blue mailbox," postal service spokesman Vic Fenimore said.

Threadgill, a two-year resident who moved from Southern California, said she understands why the Postal Service has initiated the plan but notes, "I think the post office should look carefully at each area -- study each situation and judge accordingly -- rather than just seal off all of the boxes everywhere."

But even that, officials admit, won't stop all thefts because check washing is too lucrative a crime.

"Although we have not had a vandalism incident at a blue mailbox in a year, we still advise people to not put mail in a box after the last pickup of the day, which is usually 7 p.m.," Fenimore said. "Someone could come along at 3 a.m. and -- if there is a will there is a way -- steal the mail."

Threadgill plans to continue to use her outgoing box until it is sealed. "Then I will be going to the post office along with a whole lot of other folks," she said.