DELHI TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A man has been arrested and faces multiple charges for a string of mail thefts stretching back for months.
Delhi Township police announced Thursday that 23-year-old Dametris Samuels was arrested on Oct. 4 and indicted by a grand jury on 13 different counts, including mail theft, illegal possession of a mail key and bank fraud.
According to federal court documents, Samuels is not the only "co-conspirator" involved in the thefts; Documents say Samuels and others used illegally obtained USPS keys to steal cash and checks from mail. The checks would then be "washed" of their true information and cash them with altered dollar amounts.
According to Delhi police, blue mailboxes at 5291 Delhi Road were broken into multiple times over six months.
Delhi police said Samuels' arrest was the result of a joint investigation between themselves, Cincinnati police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. According to court documents, Samuels was identified as a suspect after he was captured by surveillance using a key to open a mailbox and take the contents within.
In the surveillance images, a man can clearly be seen — including his face and several distinctive tattoos on his arms. Another unidentified person can also be seen in the surveillance footage.
Incidences of mail theft have hit other Cincinnati neighborhoods in the past few years as well; In May, a grand jury indicted five people accused of stealing cash and checks from blue mailboxes in Cincinnati between June 2022 and March 2023.
In 2022, a Norwood postal worker said he was eating lunch in his marked post office delivery vehicle Jan. 19 when a masked man wearing a hoodie pointed a gun at his head and demanded his master mailbox key. Hamilton County Sheriff's Office detectives said they believed the thieves were using his stolen key to unlock blue mailboxes around the county and steal mail.
In June 2023, the USPS unveiled their solution to the rash of thefts: Newly designed mailboxes. But those came with catches, as many people found them confusing and frustrating.
"12,000 high security blue collection boxes are being installed nationwide," said a spokesperson with USPS. "The postal service is hardening collection boxes, making access to their contents more difficult for criminals."
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