It’s something most people who live in the country take for granted. They check their roadside mailbox and find it empty, meaning they didn’t receive any credit card bills or letters that day.
But increasingly, law enforcement officials say, thieves are targeting mailboxes — especially in rural, remote areas — for purposes of finding blank checks to steal or, in some cases, whole identities.
“People living in communities in rural areas need to make sure they pick up their mail soon after it’s delivered,” said Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. Nick Turner.
“These folks are running around and playing mailman.”
‘Widespread problem’
A case currently winding its way through the Clallam County Superior Court is a perfect warning to rural residents.
It involves two men accused of being caught with what Turner calls “literally, a military duffel bag full of [other people’s] mail.”
“It’s a widespread problem,” Turner said.
Some of the mail allegedly found in the possession of Sequim resident Daniel James Bartee, 25, and transient Travis Myles Reader, 27, when deputies arrested them at a Port Angeles motel in November belongs to Bill Owens, 47, who lives on Dan Kelly Road west of Port Angeles.
Owens said he isn’t sure what was taken, but doesn’t believe he’s been on the business end of an identity theft case or the victim of forgery.
But the suggestion of getting a post office box doesn’t appeal to him.
“It’s another bill,” he said.
Owens has a simpler solution.
“People should leave other people’s mailboxes alone,” he said.
“And if they get caught playing around they should get the full penalty of the law.”