Prolific mail thief delivered stiff prison sentence

SACRAMENTO — A prolific mail thief had a stiff prison sentence personally delivered to him Friday in Sacramento court.
Robert Stringfellow is facing 25 years to life for a string of mail thefts in the Sacramento area in 2006. Stringfellow targeted incoming credit card convenience checks or outgoing personal checks, which he altered, forged and deposited into his own personal bank accounts. In all, Stringfellow stole nearly $7,000 from his victims.
The Sacramento Police Department investigated the thefts in cooperation with the United States Postal Inspection Service. Based on the information gathered by investigators, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Stringfellow. He was subsequently arrested in July 2007.
He was found guilty in July of five counts of burglary, two counts of check fraud and two counts of identity theft.
“Case’s like this one should send a message to citizens that we must take better precautions to protect our personal information,” Deputy District Attorney Quirina Orozco said in a statement. “Exercising increased care in how we receive, maintain and discard our mail is an integral part of the effort to minimize the success of con artists and identity thieves.