Initially, Stanley Oldaker was confused when $3,500 disappeared out of his bank account in June. He knew he’d written two checks to pay taxes, but for a much lower amount. That confusion quickly turned to anger when he learned the checks were cashed by names he didn’t recognize.
“There was definitely a fraud that had taken place,” Oldaker said.
Oldaker called the postal inspector and made a report. He also made a report with Oceanside police. His bank reimbursed him, but that didn’t do much to alleviate concerns that thieves also had access to his tax forms.
“They could open accounts or sell my home,” Oldaker said.
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Oldaker is a retired police detective and went into his Oceanside post office on Avenida Del Oro to try to find out how his mail was stolen. It seemed odd to him because he’d mailed those envelopes inside that post office. Even more surprising was the response he got from the USPS: Silence.
Weeks later, Oldaker said, a postal worker told him the same night he mailed the checks (June 12), five thieves wearing ski masks stole all the mail from the loading dock.
“Well, I was upset, as anyone should be, because it’s a violation of your respect for these organizations that continuously raise fees in order to handle the mail process, and then to find out they don’t want to do anything about it, is disheartening,” Oldaker said.
Local
Jessica Turvey also had trouble getting information after her mail never reached her loved ones. They were two birthday cards to her great-grandchildren in Alaska.
“There’s nothing like opening your own mail with your name on it and to know it’s your great-grandmother sending it to you,” Turvey said. “It’s just my great pleasure to do that.”
Like Oldaker, Turvey dropped her mail off inside her post office in June. It was the location on Garden View Road in Encinitas.
“I could understand one card not arriving, but not both,” Turvey told NBC 7.
So when that happened, Turvey called her postmaster. She said she never got a call back. It took two trips to her post office to learn what happened after stopping to talk to a postal worker.
“He said, ‘That was the night the worker got knocked in the head and all the outgoing mail from this branch … was stolen,’” Turvey told NBC 7.
Both Turvey and Oldaker want to know why there wasn’t a public bulletin warning viewers that mail had been stolen.
“Why is there no direct communication?" Turvey said. "It seems as though something is being hidden. And they can hide what they want, but if it involves my mail, I just wanted some complete answers, and I haven’t gotten them. That’s all.”
USPIS didn’t answer our questions
NBC 7 Investigates tried to get answers from the USPS and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), which investigates postal crime. A spokesperson for the USPIS confirmed it was investigating reported thefts at the Oceanside and Encinitas post offices but wouldn’t share more details. Both declined NBC 7's requests for an on-camera interview.
NBC 7 asked for surveillance video from both the Encinitas and Oceanside post offices. The postal inspector took several weeks to get back to us, claiming none of the cameras inside or outside the Oceanside post office captured any video of the theft. We're waiting to learn if that was also the case for the incident at the Encinitas post office.
NBC 7 Investigates repeatedly asked the USPIS what it was doing to notify communities about mail thefts. The statements we received didn’t answer our questions:
"The U.S. Postal Inspection Service supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service and its customers by enforcing the laws that defend the nation's mail system from illegal or dangerous use. If a customer suspects their mail has been stolen or missing, they should take action immediately by reporting it. They can contact their local post office or postal inspector by calling 877-876-2455 or at www.uspis.gov. They should document any missing mail or any pertinent information about the missing mail.
"By analyzing information from complaints, postal inspectors can determine if the problem is part of a larger mail theft investigation – the information provided directly from the community can assist Inspectors in identifying suspects.
"Customers can also sign up for Informed Delivery to obtain daily digest emails that preview the mail and packages scheduled to arrive soon."
NBC 7 also visited the Encinitas post office in person to talk to its postmaster, Chuck Thomsen. He said he wasn’t allowed to do an interview and couldn’t share any information.
Turvey says the postal service should alert the public every time there’s a theft. And in the meantime, she wants to know how this happened.
“Why would they not tell it, unless perhaps it might be something internal,” Turvey suggested. “So it didn’t matter that it was a little thing or a big thing, it’s that it happened. And they’re stonewalling.”
