A Stockton resident was arrested by Lathrop Police over the weekend after breaking into community mailboxes and collecting mail from more than two dozen residents.

According to the agency, graveyard officers were notified by members of the community that somebody was breaking into the community mailboxes near Gypsum and Quartz Ways and responded to the area – locating the vehicle that was described in the initial report. Officers conducted a traffic stop and discovered an abundance of stolen mail and took the driver into custody without incident.

The suspect, who was not identified by police, will face multiple felony charges as a result of the incident.

The agency said it made every attempt to deliver the mail back to the rightful owners, although some of the mail will be turned back over to the United States Postal Service to redeliver.

While mailbox thieves have been a constant and ongoing problem throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley, the problem is always particularly pronounced around the holidays – when thieves know that family members commonly mail Christmas cards that contain things like cash, checks, and gift cards.

Community mailboxes such as the one targeted over the weekend in Lathrop are common targets for thieves who either pry open the back of the mailbox or use counterfeit keys to access a large number of mailboxes in a single swipe.

Authorities encourage people to check their mail as close to the time that it is delivered as possible and not to let mail sit in mailboxes overnight – particularly if it may contain items of value.

Law enforcement has had a hard time getting a handle on mail theft thanks to a California law that raised the threshold to qualify for a felony when in possession of stolen property – meaning that in order to charge thieves with a crime that could result in any sort of prison time, they had to be in possession of at least $950 worth of cash and checks.

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