Bellevue police arrest ‘prolific mail thief’

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Bellevue police arrested a suspect they are calling a prolific mail thief early Friday.

More than 350 pieces of mail were recovered.

Shortly before 4 a.m., officers were called to the area near SE 60th Street and Forest Drive Southeast after a caller said the driver of a white muscle car with a loud muffler had tried to steal her mail.

An officer searched the area and found a car matching that description that made an illegal turn and didn’t have license plates.

The officer stopped the car, and as he spoke with the driver, he noticed what appeared to be a pile of mail under a jacket on the passenger’s side floor.

Officers said the man was driving with a suspended license and was arrested.

Police said the 25-year-old from Renton gave the officer permission to search the car, and the officer recovered 368 pieces of stolen mail with addresses from Bellevue, Renton, Seattle and Federal Way.

Officers said they also found a Washington driver’s license belonging to someone else and stolen credit cards.

The man was booked into jail for investigation of mail theft and driving with a suspended license.

The mail will be forwarded to the United States Postal Inspection Service and returned to its owners.

Bellevue police thanked neighbors for working with officers to alert them to crimes. The arrest was the second for mail theft in two nights, thanks to residents who reported suspicious activity, they said.

Cox Media Group