Man Arrested in Thefts From Postal Trucks

Federal agents Friday arrested a Santa Ana man who allegedly acted as a fence for a gang that is responsible for stealing checks and credit cards from mail trucks throughout Orange and Riverside counties.

Marcello Barragan, 19, was taken into custody Friday morning at his home after he sold stolen checks and credit cards to undercover federal agents twice within the past month, authorities said.

Postal inspectors, assisted by Secret Service agents and Santa Ana police, also seized mail found at Barragan’s house that was addressed to others, several credit cards, assault rifles, pistols and knives. About half a dozen more credit cards were found in the trunk of Barragan’s dilapidated car.

Authorities also found several fowl in the back yard that they believe might have been used for illegal cockfighting.

Barragan’s arrest followed a nearly two-month investigation by a special postal inspection task force formed to combat what authorities call an epidemic-like increase in mail theft from postal vehicles throughout Southern California. In the last five months, about 220 mail trucks have been broken into in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The surge in thefts is attributed to such factors as the weak economy and high unemployment, and to mail theft evolving into an organized crime.

Authorities say gang members prowl neighborhoods in search of mail vehicles that have been left unattended while carriers make their rounds on foot. They smash the trucks’ windows and steal trays of mail containing government assistance and insurance checks and credit cards. Other gang members sell the checks, or cash them using phony identification or by altering the names of the payees. Credit cards are often taken to Las Vegas, where they are quickly charged to their limit.

Postal inspectors said the gang Barragan was associated with has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of checks and credit cards in recent months. The gang also may be involved in armed robberies of mail carriers and drug sales, they said.