Crime Watch reader report: Mail stolen from Westwood box

| Crime | West Seattle news | Westwood

If you mailed any checks using the box outside the Westwood Village post office earlier this week, you might want to keep a close watch on your bank account. Just got this report from Jim:

A check we wrote to Time magazine for $19.00 on the 19th, and dropped in the mail box at the Westwood station (verified it dropped in the box) showed up at Moneytree in Seatac, about 2:45 this afternoon, made out to a Hispanic man for $600.00, for lawn work.

Moneytree called the house for verification, we were not home, so they refused the check. I was able to verify the draft number and the style of check, and confirmed it was the same draft.

The mail was put in the drive thru box Tuesday night.

Jim confirms this is being reported to authorities, both by him and by the check-cashing business where it turned up. Here’s an online form for reporting it to the US Postal Inspection Service.

JanS February 23, 2008 (7:00 pm)

wow…nothing is safe any more…:(

Rockyraccoon February 23, 2008 (7:43 pm)

It was probably not stolen out of the Westwood box, though, right? It could have been intercepted anywhere along the way.

k February 23, 2008 (8:13 pm)

Maybe WSB can follow up on Monday with the P.O. and see if the box was actually broken into. I have heard of the keys being stolen, but not around here.

Alison February 23, 2008 (9:09 pm)

I’m not surprised. I’ve noticed how full the mailbox at Westwood gets sometimes. It would be quite easy for someone to reach in and get mail directly from the slot. Perhaps they should empty it more often.

DLC February 24, 2008 (8:23 am)

Ok that brings up a question I have been wondering about. Is it safe to put your mail on hold with the post office when you are on vacation? I heard that the information can leak from the post office and make your house vulnerable to a break in. Has anybody heard about this happening in West Seattle?

commenter formerly known as "k" February 24, 2008 (8:33 am)

alison-i agree. i have seen mail coming through the top before and gone inside to drop mine off. as long as we are talking about mail, i would love if the california branch would get one of the automated postal centers! that would be so handy!

pigeonmom February 24, 2008 (2:41 pm)

The Westwood drive up boxes are
frequently overfilled, they have a real problem there.

Bernicki February 24, 2008 (9:03 pm)

I rarely put anything in a box on the street. Once my brother called me from out of state, wondering if I had received something he sent me. It turns out he had put it in a mailbox on the street, and the next day noticed that someone had thrown a lit match or something into it, setting the contents on fire. He was checking to see if my mail had escaped the blaze.

liws February 25, 2008 (1:28 pm)

Mail service got rid of blue boxes years ago on the streets because it was used as a dumping ground for needles and other drug abusers. I’m surprised there are still any left on the street at all.

Sorry, comment time is over.