Recently, while on patrol, a motor Sergeant was contacted by a member of the community who told him that he had witnessed a United States Postal Service vehicle being broken into and had taken video of the incident, according to the Placentia Police Department.
The police Sergeant requested back-up officers to the crime scene, and they viewed the video. The video showed not only the suspects committing the theft, but also the vehicle they were driving.
An alert went out County wide to other law enforcement agencies to inform them of the suspect vehicle and crime. Fullerton PD notified the Placentia Police that they had located the suspect vehicle and their officers went to the suspect vehicle’s location.
Upon arrival, the officer made contact with a male subject who informed him that the vehicle belonged to a female neighbor of his.
Fullerton PD arrived at the location to assist our officer and identified two individuals, a male and a female, who were known to them. Both individuals were on probation and had criminal records. Both were detained and our officer separated them for questioning.
Despite both suspects being dishonest with the Placentia officer, consent to search the residence of the female subject was obtained. While inside the female subjects residence, the officer located two bags that were filled with mail that all had addresses that belonged to the city of Placentia.
The female subject commented that the two bags did not belong to her and that her boyfriend (male subject) had brought the two bags into her residence. The officer showed the female subject the pictures from the video taken at the crime scene of the vehicle (hers) with a female in the drivers seat. She admitted that it was her in the photo, despite earlier having stated to our officer that she was never in the city of Placentia that day.
Both suspects were arrested, charged with mail theft, and transported to jail.
The Placentia Police Department thanks the Fullerton Police Department and the observant member of the Placentia community for their assistance in reporting and solving this crime.
