POLICE CONNECT RISING MAIL THEFT, DRUG USE

When a law-enforcement officer pulled over Anthony Chandler in April
for driving his motorcycle through a Lake Wales stoplight, the deputy
said he found a pipe with traces of methamphetamine in Chandler's
pocket and learned his drivers license was fake.

Chandler also had more than 30 pieces of stolen mail, including
thousands of dollars in checks written out to a local Christian camp,
the deputy said.

Authorities throughout Central Florida say the problem of mail and
identity theft has never been as bad as it is now, with Polk County
investigators estimating that 75 percent of their ID-theft cases
involve drug abusers. Phoenix officials attributed a rash of mail
thefts to meth addicts, while in Washington state at least 90 percent
of identity thefts are perpetrated by drug users.

The problem is thought to be so widespread that a U.S. senator
introduced legislation in April calling on the federal government to
study the link between methamphetamine users and identity theft.

Drug users often steal hundreds of pieces of mail from private and
community mailboxes, enabling them to steal money and fraudulently buy
big-ticket items to support their addiction. The rapidly growing Four
Corners area, where Lake, Polk, Orange and Osceola counties meet, has
seen a rash of such thefts.

"I haven't seen any [identity-theft] cases so far that I can recall
that weren't drug-connected," said Mike Cusick, felony intake director
for the State Attorney's Office in Polk County, where authorities say
the problem has surged to unprecedented proportions.

But now other Central Florida counties are feeling what might be the
beginning stages of the same trend, authorities say -- that is,
hundreds of reports of mail theft. Metro Orlando, for instance, had
more than 1,000 cases of mail theft in 2004.

"Before 2004, we didn't really have a problem," Postal Inspector Ed
Moffitt said.

Many who commit identity-theft crimes get away with little or no jail
time.

"The biggest challenge law enforcement is facing right now is
enforcing all the laws," said Jay Foley, co-executive director of the
Identity Theft Resource Center.

"Who do you want off the streets more: the guys with the guns or the
guys with the ink pens? That's where they are going to focus their
efforts."

Rampant problem

Thieves steal mail not just from private mailboxes on roadsides, but
also from post offices and community, or cluster, mailboxes.

Some thieves rent a post-office box under a fake name and at night
open their mailbox and reach in and around, grabbing mail from nearby
boxes. They'll take anything in the hope it has something they want:
credit-card applications, blank or written checks, money orders or
personal documents with account or Social Security numbers.

With such information in hand, and computer software, a scanner, a
good printer and transparency overlays, an identity thief creates new
checks with someone else's account number -- and a drivers license
with the thief's face but someone else's name -- and then take off
spending.

In Polk County, once considered the methamphetamine capital of Florida
and still an area of heavy meth use, mailbox theft is a persistent
problem.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug that allows users to stay
awake for several days.

"Have you ever met a meth addict? Besides the rotting teeth and
leather skin, their minds are sharp, staying up for days and hacking
the Internet," said Robert Siciliano, of IDTheftSecurity .com.
"Identity theft is becoming an international organized crime. Meth
addicts and identity theft go hand in hand."

In nearby south Lake County, a rash of mail thefts that began in
October hasn't ceased, either.

"The Four Corners area has just been beat with mail theft," Lake
County sheriff's Sgt. Christie Mysinger said.

The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office has not tracked the link
between mail theft, identity theft and methamphetamine abuse, but
director of investigations Randy Means said he does not dispute that
it exists.

In 2004, there were 648 reported thefts in Seminole and Volusia
counties. Orange County had 328 thefts, and Osceola had 347, though
that count includes some south Orange thefts.

Highlighting the growing problem of meth abuse, the number of drug
labs seized by law enforcement in Florida jumped from 23 in 1999 to
170 in 2003, federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials said at
a conference Friday in Orlando.

Detective Rodney Chauncey of the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the
county where meth drives a majority the postal thefts, said he's never
seen identity theft and fraud -- and the crimes associated with the
two -- "as bad as it is now."

"It progressively gets worse," he said. "It never gets any
better."

A few secure boxes likely won't stop the persistent thieves who may
stay up all night going mailbox to mailbox.

Winter Haven resident Glen E. Snell was convicted in 2003 on more than
40 identity-theft-related charges.

Investigators said he stole garbage bags full of mail, made fake
checks and drivers licenses, and obtained credit cards using different
victims' names. There were at least 66 victims in Snell's case, the
Polk Sheriff's Office reported, with more than $15,000 stolen from
their accounts.

Like many identity thieves, Snell has a long criminal history --
including methamphetamine use.

Bill would begin study

Even though there has been no official study linking the two, many law
enforcers and prosecutors say a majority of identity-theft cases are
related to drugs, particularly methamphetamine.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., recently introduced a bill
requesting that the federal government conduct a study that might link
the two.

If that bill is passed, and a link is confirmed, the bill also calls
for Congress to consider increasing criminal penalties.

Said Cantwell: "These two crimes are undeniably connected, and one
won't go away without fighting the other."