Postal Imposter Spotted Stealing Packages In Pleasant Hill
PLEASANT HILL (KPIX 5) -- Postal imposters are a problem plaguing a lot of communities. Pleasant Hill is the latest city to get hit.
One woman has been spotted driving around in an old United States Postal Service truck without license plates, opening people's mailboxes and stealing what's inside.
"Lately it seems like it's happening more, but yes, it happens every Christmas," says UPS employee Lohengrin Clausell.
With more people getting their holiday shopping done online these days, more packages are delivered to doorsteps, creating more opportunities for thieves to steal gifts.
"I've had a few packages stolen here in Pleasant Hill, but you know what? What I do when I hear the mail guy - I just show up and go out and retrieve it as fast as I can get it," says John, a Pleasant Hill resident. "So they lose, I win. Simple as that."
"I'm kind of concerned about it," says Vicki Hill. "The neighbors across the street have gotten locked mailboxes."
Hill has lived in the same neighborhood for 10 years. She says a lot of her neighbors have had mail stolen and she's been the victim of mail fraud.
"For some reason this neighborhood is very vulnerable to that and I don't understand why," says Hill. "Because a lot of people here are home during the day and it even seems to happen with people being at home. So people are very quiet and clever, and I'm not really sure how they're doing it."
That phony white USPS truck was spotted on Lucinda Lane just the other day. Now neighbors are on alert and they're looking out for one another.
But thieves don't stop there.
"People are actually following UPS trucks," says Clausell. "Once they deliver or leave the package, they wait until the truck leaves and steal the packages."
Lohengrin says if people want to guarantee a safe delivery, it's best to pay an extra 4 or 5 dollars to require a signature in order for a package to be dropped off.
A lot of people said the police are aware of this issue and even have a picture of the female postal imposter, the latest person to be stealing mail.
KPIX 5 reached out to the Pleasant Hill Police Department but they didn't want to comment on this case.