A woman in California, fed up with her mailbox being repeatedly stolen, decided to put an AirTag tracking device in a package she sent out, ultimately assisting law enforcement in tracking down two mail thieves.
According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office on August 20th, an unnamed woman, after having her mailbox at the Los Alamos post office repeatedly targeted, sent out a package containing an AirTag tracker in hopes of catching the thieves.
Her plan worked.
On the morning of August 19th at 7:17 AM, the police received a report of mail theft at the post office. Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered that mail belonging to multiple victims, including the package containing the AirTag, had been stolen.
Officials reported that the police found the thieves carrying mail from the victims, including the package with the AirTag, at the 600 block of E. Sunrise Dr. in Santa Maria, along with stolen items from over a dozen victims.
In a press release, law enforcement commended the proactive measures taken by the victims and emphasized that the woman also exercised appropriate caution by reaching out to the authorities.
The suspects have been identified as 27-year-old Virginia Franchessca Lara and 37-year-old Donald Ashton Terry.
Lara faces multiple felony charges, including possession of forged checks, identity theft, credit card theft, and conspiracy, and is currently being held on $50,000 bail. Terry faces similar felony charges along with a burglary charge, with his bail set at $460,000.
Raquel Zick, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, revealed to Dajiyuan on August 21st that the male suspect has outstanding warrants for related crimes in Riverside County. After the resolution of the Santa Barbara County case, he will be handed over to the Riverside County authorities.
Zick stated that the Sheriff’s Office is verifying additional victims of theft on other packages.
She also encouraged residents to take similar measures to protect their mail from theft. Suggestions include using lockable delivery services, avoiding leaving packages on doorsteps, sending packages to the post office, or having neighbors collect them when not at home, and switching to paperless services for sensitive information.
The use of AirTag tracking has been successful in other theft cases as well. In December last year, a nursery owner in Newport Beach used an AirTag to track and apprehend a thief who had stolen thousands of dollars’ worth of items from his property over the course of several weeks.