The United States Postal Inspector Service, along with the King County Sheriff’s Office and Covington Police Department, completed a mail theft emphasis operation on 8/23/2019. The operation was made possible with the help of Amazon, who provided the bait packages.
The US Postal Inspectors placed the bait packages on the front porch of several residences in the City of Covington, as agreed upon by the homeowners. Once the packages were stolen off the porch, postal inspectors were able to track the whereabouts and call police.
The operation lead to multiple arrests of suspects, who were booked on investigation of felony theft charges.
For information specifically about reporting and preventing mail theft, go to the USPIS website (https://www.uspis.gov/tips-prevention/mail-theft/).
Photos attached: Actual traffic stop of suspect after theft of a bait package. Second photo is the item (Vive virtual reality headset valued over $1300.00) that was in the bait box which was recovered from a suspect’s residence.
