a day ago
Man pleads guilty to using arrow key and stealing mail in New York, feds say
A 25-year-old pleaded guilty to using a postal service key to steal mail out of a receptacle in New York, federal prosecutors said.
Antonio Jones, Jr., of Buffalo, now faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit mail theft and possession of an arrow key, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York said in a June 6 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to Jones' attorney June 9 but did not receive an immediate response.
According to a complaint filed in October, law enforcement officials found a 'substantial amount' of sealed and opened mail in a car Jones was riding in with two others during an Oct. 2 traffic stop in Cheektowaga. Officials also found an arrow key on Jones during the stop, prosecutors said.
Before the traffic stop, the United States Postal Investigation Service along with financial institutions and local law enforcement in the Buffalo area had gotten multiple complaints about stolen and opened mail, leading officials to identify specific collection boxes as regular targets of mail theft, according to the complaint.
One of the locations identified was the Cayuga Post Office, and as investigators were conducting surveillance on it, they saw the car with Jones and two others drive up to the back of some mailboxes at the location, according to the complaint.
Then, investigators saw two of the men get out of the vehicle, and one of them open the mailboxes and take mail out while the other 'appeared to act as a sort of 'lookout,'' prosecutors said.
The men were stopped right after, prosecutors said.
The two others Jones was with were convicted earlier and await sentencing, prosecutors said.
Jones is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 24, prosecutors said.
Cheektowaga is about a 25-mile drive southeast from Niagara Falls.
Mail theft
During the early COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sharp increase in mail theft complaints, according to a September 2023 report issued by the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General.
From March 2020 through February 2021, there were 299,020 mail theft complaints – a 161% increase 'compared to the same period in the previous year,' the report said.
Suspected mail theft can be reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service online or by calling 1-877-876-2455.
