OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office is sounding the alarms on larcenies and mail thefts. They said they’ve responded to 100 incidents over the last few months throughout the county.
“We’ve had a number of these different types of crimes,” said Capt. Jake Sparks during an interview with Fox 17 on Thursday. “Thieves seem to be targeting business mailboxes to get a hold of business checks. And, that’s what they were doing on this occasion.”
Early in the morning on Saturday, December 3, deputies were dispatched to a business on Rosewood Street in Georgetown Township due to a call about a suspicious incident.
“In this situation, what was odd was that this vehicle had backed into a business parking lot. It was almost 4 o’clock in the morning,” Capt. Sparks said. “The witness was able to see items being thrown out of the vehicle which was later determined to be discarded mail.”
Through an investigation, deputies found a large pile of open and discarded mail. They found the vehicle involved, apprehended the suspects, and were able to recover a total of $50,000 in checks that were returned to the businesses.
“Another thing I should point out, Lauren, is that most of these have all been weekend incidents,” Capt. Sparks said. “So, if you don’t get your mail delivery or your business doesn’t get its mail delivery until after hours on a Friday, that will sit in there all weekend and makes it an easy target.”
Capt. Sparks said the suspects were two men from out of state. One’s been arraigned and the other is expected to go before a judge at a later date. However, detectives suspect that they’re a part of a larger organization that also targets homes during the holidays.
So, he suggested people not leave mail in their mailboxes, or have a neighbor check on it.
“If you know you’re going to be gone at work and you know you have a package being delivered or a steady stream of deliveries, maybe there’s a neighbor that can grab those and put them inside until you respond home from work,” Capt. Sparks said.
He added that people can contact their local post office and have a hold put on their mail so packages aren’t sitting at their door.
“If you’re going to be out of town you can put a vacation hold on them right through the app or through a website,” Capt. Sparks said. “They have something that’s called Informed Delivery where you can receive text notification through an app our email notifications.”
