Postal inspectors working to determine how much mail stolen from carrier in Hughson

Mail thieves locally have taken from individual residential mailboxes, have broken into cluster boxes (or used counterfeit keys) and the big blue drop boxes – even have made off with the blue boxes entirely.

They’ve rigged simple devices to capture mail being deposited into the blue boxes, they’ve stolen mail by filing bogus forwarding-address requests.

And they steal from U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles, as happened Tuesday in Hughson.

Hughson Police Services posted on Facebook that around 11:50 a.m. Tuesday a subject driving a brown, four-door, full-size pickup truck stole “items” out of a Postal Service vehicle near the intersection of Los Alamos and Flora Vista drives.

The post doesn’t specify what the items were, but Jeff Fitch of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service confirmed Wednesday afternoon that several trays holding mail were taken from the vehicle. How full the trays were – how much mail was taken – has yet to be determined, he said.

Postal inspectors are working the case and will contact victims. Fitch said. Mail theft and breaking into a delivery vehicle are federal offenses, he said, and the inspection service has a standing $10,000 reward offer for information that leads to arrests and convictions.

Deputies with Hughson Police Services are looking for anyone in the Sterling Glen area, Leaflet/Flora Vista, who may have surveillance footage of the incident or the vehicle driving in the area.

Anyone with video or other information regarding the theft is urged to contact the Postal Inspection Service hot line at 877-876-2455 or Hughson Police Services at 209-883-4052.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 7:52 AM with the headline "Postal inspectors working to determine how much mail stolen from carrier in Hughson."