LYNNWOOD — Several families were more likely to have a nice holiday after an alert witness and quick police work led to the arrest of a suspected mail thief accused of stealing Christmas cards out of mailboxes.
A Lynnwood woman was sitting in her living room Monday morning when she peered out the window and noticed someone driving around the neighborhood and opening mail boxes in the 19000 block of 48th Avenue W.
The witness and her husband then saw the woman run to her car with her hands full of mail. A little later, they spotted the woman opening mailboxes on 185th Place SW, according to court records.
When they confronted the woman, the suspect told the couple she was putting postcards in the mailboxes. They didn’t buy her story, particularly after they noticed a pile of mail on the front passenger seat.
The woman told the suspect she was committing a federal offense. The suspect sped off and the couple followed her until she drove through a red light on Highway 99.
At that point, they called police and provided a description of the suspect, the car she was driving and a license plate number.
A check of the license plate indicated that the car belonged to someone living in a Lynnwood apartment.
When a Lynnwood officer went there, he saw the car parked near the apartment unit. The hood was still warm.
He had to knock on the door of the apartment three times and identify himself as a police officer before a man answered the door.
The officer found the woman in a bedroom. She allegedly admitted that she “stole Christmas cards out of numerous mailboxes.”
The mail was returned to the theft victims in time for Christmas.
The suspect, 28, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of mail theft. She also was wanted on warrants for theft, identity theft, drug possession and possessing stolen property.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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