Woman in US gets mail stolen, mailed herself an AirTag & caught culprits
A woman in the United States decided to mail herself an Apple AirTag after she got sick of her mail getting stolen, in hopes she could catch the culprits.
According to the LA Times, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies were called to a local post office after a report of mail theft on 19 Aug.
Woman hatches ingenious plan to catch her thieves
The woman had told deputies that the thieves had repeatedly stolen items from her post office box.
Tired of this, the woman decided to mail herself an Apple AirTag, which is a tracking device used to find lost devices through Bluetooth.
It worked — the mail was stolen on 19 Aug and she tracked the package to Block 600 East Sunrise Drive in Santa Maria.
Source: LA Times
“It is important to note that the victim did not attempt to contact the suspects on her own,” said the Sheriff’s Office, according to ABC7 News.
Arriving on scene, the authorities were not only able to find the woman’s lost mail, they also found items that were likely stolen from dozens of other victims.
Two arrested in relation to theft
Officers arrested two people on suspicion of the thefts — 37-year-old Donald Ashton Terry and 27-year-old Virginia Franchessca Lara.
Lara was booked for crimes such as possession of checks with intent to commit fraud, fictitious checks, identity theft and credit card theft, and her bail was set at US$50,000 (~S$65,000).
Terry was booked for suspicion of burglary and theft-related warrants in a neighbouring county, on top of similar charges received by Lara. His bail was set at US$460,000.
The Sheriff’s Department in its news release thanked the post office box owner for her initiative, and also for not confronting the thieves herself.
Authorities are still identifying the other victims in the theft.
Also read: Woman in KL amused after delivery rider places package in shrine to prevent theft
Woman in KL amused after delivery rider places package in shrine to prevent theft
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Featured image adapted from LA Times and Đức Trịnh on Unsplash. The right image is for illustration purposes only.
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