LAYTON – Layton Police are working to track down the suspects in a string of mailbox thefts.
Over the past few weeks, they have had a series of reports. Most of the victims have told police it appears someone went through their mail, but at least a few victims actually reported items stolen. Tuesday morning, police got reports of a spike in activity.
“I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-to-75 but it could be more than that,” said Lt. Travis Lyman with the Layton Police Department.
In one neighborhood near Woodward Park, nearly every house on a few cul-de-sacs has been hit.
“The mailbox was open but the letter was gone,” said Rebekah Rice. “Now, I’m thinking, what else did they take. Did they come and take things that were in the mail before I checked it, rummaged through it, and just left us the junk mail.”
“I have enough to worry about. I don’t need to worry about somebody stealing my mail, like that,” said Jenny Slaughter.
Police say it is a tough crime to track down the suspects and it often ties to further crimes in the future.
“It’s actually a felony offense to steal mail. It’s a federal crime. But it’s almost always in addition to fraud charges, credit card fraud, identity theft,” said Lt. Lyman.
Layton Police recommend people pick up their mail quickly, switch to paperless statements when they can and if you have to mail anything valuable, take it to the post office.
