The San Joaquin County AGNET Team – a new special unit of detectives from the sheriff’s office that handles chronic criminal cases – has put a dent in mail theft in and around the county.

On Tuesday the unit arrested 21-year-old Krista Salenga after she was discovered to be in possession of several stolen checks, credit cards, forged checks, and manufactured checks that authorities believe she was going to use to defraud the account holders. Salenga was also in possession of several pieces of mail from residents in a variety of different cities and is believed to be responsible for mail theft incidents in Manteca, Mountain House, and Tracy.

Salenga is currently in custody at the San Joaquin County Jail on charges of vandalism, forgery, using an access card without permission of the owner, obtaining the ID or credit card of another unlawfully, and possession of the ID of 10 or more persons with intent to defraud. She is also facing additional charges of petty theft and is currently being held on $275,000 bond.

She is set to appear in Department 8B of the San Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton today at 1:30 p.m. to answer to the charges against her.

While the United States Postal Service has stepped up its enforcement and prosecution of those who are found to be targeting mailboxes throughout the area – which are prime targets for identity thieves that use financial documents and other identifying materials to pass checks and open up lines of credit – there has been an uptick in the number of mailbox break-ins recently across the county.

As a precaution to protect personal information, authorities have in the past urged people to get their sensitive mail delivered to a post-office box to cut down on the potential for it be stolen, but just last week the post office in Lockeford was targeted by thieves that pried open the doors and cleaned out the contents.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.