After a string of mail thefts in Sunset Hills and months of intensive detective work — with even more cases scattered across the U.S. — three arrests have been made, and warrants were sent out for the remaining suspects.
The issues began early in the year. The Sunset Hills Police Department was receiving reports from concerned citizens about checks being washed, forged and cashed at banks throughout the St. Louis area, stolen from the blue mailboxes outside the Sappington Post Office, 11662 Gravois Road.
What followed was a long, “involved” investigation by Sunset Hills detectives Dan O’Brien and Jeff Senior, who worked the cases in tandem. The process involved checking bank surveillance footage, tracking rental car records and delving into cellphone data.
According to Detective Sergeant John Peisker, detectives believe there are seven suspects involved in the theft and forgery of Sunset Hills checks: some were local to the St. Louis area, while others involved in groups that enact these crimes nationwide came from out of state.
Three local suspects were arrested for forgery and identity theft. According to a social media post by the Sunset Hills Police Department, two of the suspects were referred to the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for charges. Warrants were issued for other suspects, and Homeland Security picked up two of the cases: Peisker says these suspects are potentially acting nationally and could be indicted on federal charges.
“Nationwide, this is a trend,” Peisker said. “It’s happening across the country now, where they’re getting into mailboxes, sorting through it and pulling out checks — washing them, forging them, cashing them.”
Peisker says he can’t be sure why, exactly, mail theft has been trending in the U.S. He notes that, to access these blue postal service mailboxes, one would need a key; these crimes could potentially be assisted by former or current postal service employees. The root question is where the criminals’ access — the keys — are coming from.
In late August, O’Brien and Senior were presented with Letters of Appreciation by Chief Stephen Dodge for their work on the investigation.
“They worked a months-long investigation on this, and it was a pretty involved investigation,” Peisker said. “They did a lot of legwork on it, and they did a great job identifying several people.”
