4 Men Arrested in Theft From Postal Truck

Police and U.S. postal inspectors said they arrested four men Monday after watching them smash the back window of a parked postal vehicle and take a tray of mail.

The men, all from Santa Ana, were later identified as suspects in an April 4 postal truck burglary--one of seven such thefts that occurred in the county that day, when monthly Social Security checks were expected to be delivered.

Arrested on suspicion of auto burglary were Jesus Ceja Gutierrez, 21, Carlos Toleda Nava, 27, Carlos Carillo Diaz, 26, and Rodolfo Cupa Celia, 27. All are being held at the Anaheim Temporary Detention Facility, police Capt. John E. Flanagan said.

On April 4, seven mail trucks were broken into in five Orange County cities, with a loss of 4,500 pieces of mail, postal inspectors said.

Two of the burglaries occurred in Anaheim, two in Fullerton, and one each in Santa Ana, Westminster and Huntington Beach. Flanagan said the investigation of all the postal crimes is continuing, and that the four men arrested Monday may have been responsible.

“We’re exploring the possibility that they were involved in some of the other ones,” Anaheim Police Sgt. Charles Chavez said. A vehicle similar to the one carrying the four men arrested was spotted near the April 4 postal truck burglary in Santa Ana, he said.

“You know it’s the right car,” Chavez said. “You just can’t say it’s 100%, but everything fits to a T.”

Mail theft is a federal offense, punishable by up to five years in prison. Police said Wednesday they did not know if the men would be charged with a federal crime, and postal authorities could not be reached for comment.

According to police, investigators Monday staked out several locations in Anaheim. Detectives at one stakeout noticed a vehicle stopping to look into parked postal trucks, Flanagan said. Investigators followed the vehicle through Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.

In the 900 block of West St. Andrews Place, the four men broke into the parked postal truck, took the mail and were then arrested without incident, Flanagan said.