Officers from the 112 Precinct (Photo: 112 Precinct/Twitter)
July 12, 2018 By Tara Law
The police have arrested three people who were caught in the act of stealing mail from a Forest Hills mailbox in the early hours Wednesday morning.
Officers from the 112 precinct arrested three Brooklyn residents who were spotted taking mail from a USPS mailbox near Metropolitan and Ascan Avenues at around 2 a.m.
Police watched on as Byron Gayle, 22; Shanice Hilton, 20; and Nahki Guirand, 22, allegedly drove up to the mailbox in a 2018 Toyota Camry.
Then two of the alleged perpetrators left the car and approached the mailbox, police said. One of them slid a piece of cardboard slathered with glue that was attached to a string into the mailbox. The other stood nearby, acting as a lookout.
One of the suspects hopped back in the car and the other walked down Metropolitan Avenue.
The police stopped the car nearby and discovered the cardboard, two checks and marijuana.
The trio were charged with grand larceny, criminal tampering, possession of burglar tools, criminal possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of marijuana.
Police have been warning the public about the growing problem of mail theft in Queens. Thieves typically “fish” letters out of mailboxes late at night.
Thieves often steal people’s personal information or “wash” checks— clean the ink off the checks and rewrite them.
The NYPD’s Crime Prevention Division has issued warnings to City residents over the past few years that it is safer to mail checks at the post office, rather than through mail boxes.
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One Comment
Instead of installing all these useless Linknyc totem poles we should use the money to build & install tamper-proof mailboxes.