Ventura County – With the Holiday Season in full swing, it’s that time of year when we look forward to receiving all manner of “goodies” in our mailboxes, including Christmas cards from our insurance broker, end-of-the-year notices from the IRS, the seasonal solicitations for donations from every non-profit charitable organization on the planet, and all of those last-minute-online-shopping parcels from the internet purveyors to whom we’re all becoming addicted. It’s that seasonal reality that makes us all vulnerable to those who would violate both state criminal codes and U.S. Postal Service law by filching whatever may addressed to us in our own mailboxes.
It’s something of an epidemic throughout the fair-weather Central Coast where anyone can approach a mail box, take all its contents and never leave a single footprint in the snow…unless the neighbors happen to be watching.
Just after noon on December 11th on Teal Club Road in the city of Oxnard, however, the neighbors were indeed in an observant state of mind when they called the Oxnard Police Department to report a man stealing mail from a private mailbox. Responding promptly to the reported address, according to Oxnard Police Department spokesperson Offficer Yvonne Negrete, officers discovered Richard Bravo at the scene, his pockets stuffed with mail…none of which bore his name or address. With the reporting witnesses nearby, Bravo was quickly identified as “the person they saw stealing the mail out of a business mailbox.”
Officers contacted the business owner who confirmed that Bravo, a 58-year old Oxnard resident, was unknown to him and was not in any way authorized to be in possession of the company’s mail.
Bravo, out on bail for a prior petty theft arrest, was taken into custody and booked into Ventura County Jail and charged with possession of stolen mail.
Negrete indicated that neighborhood witnesses in this case did the appropriate thing by providing information from a safe distance, and that the victim’s cooperation was instrumental in effecting the arrest. She also recommended that all residents make a habit of picking up their mail on a daily basis.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
Read more:
Citizens Journal: Oxnard PD arrest man for stealing mail
EDHAT: Stolen Mail
