The United States Postal Service has confirmed an incident of mail theft at a Santa Barbara post office that occurred in August.
The theft occurred on Aug. 15 when unknown suspects stole bags of mail at the San Roque Post Office at 3345 State St. There was another attempt later that day at the Patterson Avenue Post Office in Goleta, but the suspects were not successful.
Investigators for the USPS said they could not comment fully on the matter, but did confirm the theft to Noozhawk and that inspectors are investigating the incident.
Lucas Watanabe with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service stated that both events occurred in the late afternoon and that the suspect did not forcibly break into the post office.
Watanabe did not state how many people are believed to be involved.
Patricia Mendoza, a postal inspector, requested that anyone who believes they have been affected by the theft file a report.
“By analyzing information from the complaint, postal pnspectors can determine if the problem is part of a larger mail theft investigation – the information provided can assist inspectors in identifying suspects,” Mendoza told Noozhawk.
The incident comes in the wake of increasing reports of check fraud. At least two local banks have said they have seen an increase in doctored or forged checks over the last few months in the Santa Barbara area.
Officials at the banks have suspected that some of the checks are being stolen from the mail and may have been taken from local post offices.
One of the issues that banks have struggled with is that the checks are intercepted, which means they have the proper routing number and other information.
Additionally, the bad checks are usually for small amounts of cash ranging from $100 to $500.
Watanabe said even with local reports of increased check washing, the number of check fraud incidents in Santa Barbara County is not higher than in the rest of the country.
Residents who believe they are a victim of mail theft in this incident may file a report online at uspis.gov/report or call 877.876.2455.
