Bainbridge police caught mail thieves in the act early Saturday morning, August 22, enabling them to reclaim 138 pieces of unopened mail that had been plucked from dozens of north end mailboxes. Officer Victor Cienega was patrolling Komedal Road, Hidden Cove Road, and the Manzanita area at about 3:30 when he noticed several open mailboxes along the roadways. Near the stop sign at Bergman and Miller, he saw a blue Ford Windstar Minivan pulled over next to a mailbox on the south side of Miller. The passenger side door was next to the mailbox.
The van remained in that spot for about 20 to 30 seconds while Cienega watched. It then drove slowly north on Miller toward the highway.
Cienega could see the mailbox had been left open. He drove up to it and saw there was no mail inside. There were no newspapers in the newspaper boxes. He is familiar with the local newspaper delivery vehicles and this one didn’t match any of them.
He caught up with the van at Day and 305 where it turned south on the highway. Coinage followed and activated his emergency lights. The van stopped. He approached the driver side and shone his flashlight into the vehicle. He could see several pieces of mail on the inside. He could clearly see two pieces with different Bainbridge addresses.
He asked the driver why she had been stopped at the mailbox on Miller. She said she and her passenger were on their way to a friend’s house. Coinage asked her for the friend’s name. She said, “Brian,” but she was unsure where he lived. She said Brian was a friend of her passenger’s and she was just driving him there.
Officer Kurtis Enget arrived on scene and approached the other side of the vehicle.
Cienega could see other pieces of mail stuffed between the passenger door and the passenger’s leg. There were several pieces of mail on the dash and several between the passenger seat and the center console.
He asked the woman, a 47-year-old from Graham, to step out of the van, and he walked her back to his patrol car. Meanwhile Enget ran the name of the passenger and found out he had a felony Department of Corrections escape from community custody warrant.
Cienega told the woman he was detaining her and handcuffed her. Cienega left her at the patrol car and helped Enget arrest the passenger, a 40-year-old homeless man from Port Orchard.
He then returned to the woman. He told her he could see several pieces of mail that likely did not belong to her. She said she was uncertain about the mail and was just driving her passenger around. He asked her for permission to search her vehicle. She asked what would happen if she refused. He told her he would then try to get a search warrant. She agreed to give him permission to search the vehicle.
She signed the permission form and Cienega began his search. He found a large amount of mail on the floor, on the dash, on the center console, and between the seats. He told the woman she was under arrest for possession of stolen mail.
He read her her rights and then asked her if she wanted to talk with him. She said she did. He asked her whose idea it was to come to Bainbridge to steal mail. She said she had been dating her passenger for a couple of months and he had talked her into doing it. She said she is unfamiliar with Bainbridge and was following his directions. She said she had not been in trouble in a long time and had never been involved with this type of activity.
She said she takes care of her granddaughter who was at home with her roommate. Cienega asked her why she was out stealing mail at night when she had a granddaughter at home. She said she had made a poor decision.
Cienega then spoke with the passenger after reading him his rights. He said the woman is a good person, and he didn’t want to see her get in trouble for anything. He said she was just driving him around. Cienega asked him why he was stealing mail. He said he was having hard times and was looking for anything of value. He said he was responsible and not the woman.
Both were booked into the county jail on $25,000 bail apiece.
The woman had a suspended license. Cienega had the vehicle impounded.
The mail came from a variety of senders, including numerous banks, local businesses, utilities, hospitals and other health care providers, insurance companies, nonprofits, credit card providers, catalog companies, real estate agents, state agencies, politicians, airlines, Netflix, car dealers, and satellite providers. It included magazines, packages, letters, advertisements, and sealed plastic bags. The victims lived on West Port Madison Road, Agate Pass Road, Agate Point Road, Bergman Road, County Park Road, Toad Holler Road, Stranne Road, Reitan Rioad, Komedal Road, Broom Street, Hidden Cove Road, Grottle Road, and Dolphin Drive.
In total there were 138 pieces of mail. All of it was unopened and all was delivered to the Post Office for reshipment.
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Photo courtesy of Judith E. Bell.
