Out of the WSB inbox from Lisa:
I just wanted to report witnessing a very brazen mail thief in West Seattle; we are on 42nd Ave. SW between Dawson & Hudson (just south of the Alaska Junction). On Monday, Sept. 22nd around 11 am we looked out the window to see a young man walking up to our neighbor’s door. Our dogs barked and he appeared to hesitate and walk back towards the gate, then after a few moments returned to the door. We then saw him leave the yard and cross the street. He walked a few doors down, then sat down and proceeded to open the outgoing mail he had taken from our neighbor’s mail slot. Apparently he didn’t find anything good because he dropped the mail on the ground and eventually made his way down the street. We called police and filed a report, including a description: white male, early 20’s, around 5’8” medium build, dressed like a normal young kid (black Easy Street Records t-shirt, white baseball cap, black backpack, jeans). Unfortunately, there were much more tragic things occurring yesterday, and the police were not able to respond until an hour or so later.
Our street does not have mailboxes, all of the houses use mail slots, so it was especially bold of this thief to walk all the way up to the house in full daylight to steal the outgoing mail, not to mention examining his loot just across the street. Either bold or dumb, we’re not sure which. We just wanted to send out a heads up in case our neighbors are in the habit of using their mail slots for outgoing mail. Going forward we will most likely be dropping ours at the Post Office.
Here’s the official US Postal Service advice on preventing mail theft. (That link can be found anytime in the Crime Watch page‘s resources section.)
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