Thieves pry open mail collection boxes in Park Ridge, steal everything inside
PARK RIDGE, Ill. - There’s a growing mail mystery in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Police want to find out who’s behind a series of weekend mailbox burglaries that are potentially creating fraud problems for hundreds, if not thousands of postal customers.
"I think it’s awful," said one woman outside the Park Ridge post office. "What’s going on here? People are stealing."
Customers looking to drop off mail on Monday instead found a crime scene. Three mailboxes outside the post office were pried open, wrapped in yellow police crime tape. Customers driving up to drop off mail had to park and drop it off inside.
"I mean this is ridiculous," said one man. "You’re taking a big chance, it’s a federal crime and you don’t know what you’re getting?"
Park Ridge police say an officer found the three mailboxes pried open around 12:30 a.m. on Monday. Every piece of mail was gone. The last mail collection was at 4:30 Saturday afternoon, which means potentially hundreds of pieces of mail were stolen.
Police say the thief or thieves are likely looking for checks and personal financial information.
"A lot of this is called check washing," said Park Ridge police spokesman Tom Gadomski. "They are defacing the checks, printing a different name on it, a different amount. Using the codes on the check to deposit them. It’s just a form of fraud that’s going on and they find the documents they need to commit that fraud."
It’s hardly a sophisticated operation. Police say someone or some group is using a crowbar to open the mailboxes. In fact, you can see where the metal is bent.
Kelly Belter owns a park landscaping business and said her customers are afraid to pay their bills by mail.
"It’s nuts. Why do our customers want to mail us checks now? You have to go pick them up because they’re afraid to mail them to the Park Ridge post office."
And it could be part of a larger mail theft scheme. FOX 32 has learned that mailboxes were also burglarized overnight at the Mount Prospect post office and the Prospect Heights post office.
Last month, postal inspectors charged a Dolton man with using a key to break into the Park Ridge mailboxes six times earlier this year.
Now, this latest theft has residents on edge.
"I mailed all my bills yesterday and I put them in these boxes," one woman said.
Police say anyone who dropped a check in the targeted mailboxes during that 30 hour period over the weekend should contact their bank.
"If it was a check, cancel that check immediately," Gadomski said. "Notify the postal inspectors. If you’re not sure how to do that come on in to the Park Ridge Police Department. We’ll take the police report."