Postal Service Tightens Security to Combat Check Thieves

U.S. postal authorities have bolstered security on thousands of delivery Jeeps and have sent out flyers to local businesses in an effort to deter a band of thieves responsible for stealing millions of dollars in government checks from postal vehicles in Southern California.

The thieves have bilked Mexican banks for an estimated $2.5 million worth of U.S. Treasury checks. Officials said there is no way to tell how many stolen checks has been cashed in the United States, but the amount of money in Mexico is known because the checks must come back to the United States, Postal Investigator Steve Schneringer said Friday.

One Yucatan branch of Banamex, the Mexican national bank, has reportedly been defrauded of $500,000.

Besides ripping off the checks, the thieves have also dumped an untold amount of mail, officials said.

$300 to $600 Each

The checks--most of them for Social Security, veteran’s benefits, disablitity payments, federal government pensions or welfare benefits--were for between $300 and $600 each and were stolen by the group because of the ease in cashing them, Schneringer said.

“The merchant or the bank sees that it is a government check and they can’t wait to cash it because they know the money is there,” Schneringer said. “They don’t realize that the individual holding the check is not the true payee and has a forged identification.”

Postal authorities made 18 arrests Wednesday at a busy downtown Los Angeles intersection where the suspects in the mail thefts allegedly were selling fake identification documents out of a van.

Since 1985, officials have made 52 arrests in the thefts, Schneringer said. Many of the suspects are undocumented aliens from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, he said.

To combat the thefts, the Postal Service has spent more than $385,000 to upgrade security aboard its delivery Jeeps by installing 4,438 new deadbolt locks, reinforcing windows and taking other security measures, Schneringer said.

Warn Businesses

In addition, the postal inspector’s office has sent 15,000 bulletins to liquor stores and check-cashing establishments, warning merchants to be particularly careful when cashing government checks for customers unknown to them.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Secret Service, Mexican federal judicial police, banks and several police agencies have formed a joint task force to try to stop the crimes.

When a check cashed by a bank, business or check-cashing firm turns out to be stolen, that establishment is responsible for reimbursing the U.S. Treasury for the loss.

“The prime targets are your mom-and-pop grocery stores,” Scheringer said. “They are the true victims because they’ll be charged back for the face amount of the check, and it’s sad because these little stores can’t afford a loss like that.”

Officials say the postal vehicle break-ins have been escalating. In 1985, there were 125; in 1986 there were 177, and last year there were 257, Schneringer said.

Throw Away Other Mail

“They break in by using a tire iron or a rock when no one is around and steal several trays of mail, sort out what they want and throw the rest away,” Scheringer said.

Officials said that those who steal from the vehicles make 10% to 20% of the face value of each check, while the “fences” are the ones “cashing in big.”

The thefts have been occurring all over the Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley areas, and in Orange and Ventura counties, where about 9,500 postal vehicles deliver mail six days a week, officials said.