RISE IN MAIL THEFTS LINKED TO METH USERS

Utah postal inspector Randy Tuckett recalls a brief talk with police this
way: "So, you're having a mail theft problem. Was it tweakers?" he asked.
"Yeah," police responded.

Exchanges like that, he said, are common as postal inspectors wage a
growing battle along the Wasatch Front against what they say are loose-knit
gangs of methamphetamine users, known as tweakers, who steal mail to
support their drug habits.

The mail heists are made to find personal checks, police say, which are
"washed," forged and then cashed, often with phony identification.

The cases have proliferated in recent years, according to the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service. In 2001, Utah had 12 volume mail thefts. That number
spiked to more than 80 in 2002, and there have been 53 so far this year.
Volume mail theft refers to thefts from "cluster" type mailboxes such as
apartment panels, the blue collection boxes and even postal trucks.

Barry Jamison, special agent in charge of the Utah office of the Drug
Enforcement Administration, says he sees the drug connection.

"Unfortunately, a large proportion of crime is linked to methamphetamines,"
he said.

But how many mail theft rings are actually tied to meth users?

"I'd say between 95 and 99 percent, at least in the Salt Lake area," said
Terry Wilson, a postal inspector who has worked mail theft cases in Utah
for nearly 10 years. "I guess they think it's an easy way to finance or
purchase meth."

Wilson said the groups involved with volume mail theft and check-washing
communicate regularly.

Since January, Salt Lake City police have executed 70 search warrants on
meth use. According to Salt Lake City police Sgt. Mike Ross, who heads the
narcotics unit, eight of the past 10 warrant cases yielded stolen checks or
forged documents.

"I would say 50 percent of the meth houses we go into have some kind of
forgery system going on with checks," Ross said. "It is really unique. We
don't see it with the other drugs."

Last month John Coopride and Roman Jacklin, both of Salt Lake City, were
sentenced in federal court to 2 years and 33 months, respectively, for bank
fraud. Investigators say during fall of 2002 the men recruited a gang of
mail thieves who would attack collection boxes in Summit, Salt Lake and
Utah counties to steal checks or financial information. According to
Wilson, both had ties to meth.

Last week Salt Lake City police arrested Stacy Bennett, 36, on suspicion of
mail fraud after finding more than five garbage bags full of stolen mail in
his hotel room. Bennett is being held in Salt Lake City's Adult Detention
Center on a no-bail felony warrant for violating parole.

Postal inspector Bill Susha said that Bennett admitted in an interview that
he has a history of drug use and had been on the run for 10 months.

"He admitted he was involved with meth, heroin and cocaine," said Susha,
who is in the process of prosecuting Bennett in federal court.

Once the mail is in hand, investigators say the check "washing" is
typically a group effort. After the ink is removed from a personal check,
often with household chemicals, others forge the checks with stolen or fake
driver's license numbers. Checks are then cashed by another group to
distance them from the people involved in the "washing."

To combat the problem, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has launched
"Operation Mail Safe," an initiative between multiple law enforcement
agencies to target mail and identity theft. Postal inspectors who work with
the U.S. Attorney and Utah district attorneys' offices arrested 140 people
from October 1999 to September 2002 on federal mail theft charges and 135
on state-related criminal charges.

Just before the Olympics, police also broke up a Utah white supremacist
gang of more than 30 members and made arrests on meth and mail fraud charges.

Postal inspectors say they prefer to see U.S. mail theft cases prosecuted
in federal court rather than on the state level because the sentences are
often stiffer.

"The general assumption is, watch out for federal prosecution, you're
really going to get hammered there," Wilson said.

Even though many mail theft suspects have no prior drug charges, Tuckett
says the connection is clear. "A lot of times these people just tell us
they're addicted to meth," he said. "You see the scratches on their arms,
their teeth are always rotted away and they're thin as a rail."

The cases related to meth, officials say, are predominant in the West.
Besides Salt Lake City, Operation Mail Safe is under way in Phoenix,
Albuquerque and the San Francisco Bay area.

Mail theft, however, is on the rise across the country. Between October
2001 and September 2002, 5,858 arrests were made nationwide, according to
Molly McMinn, spokeswoman for the postal inspectors' national headquarters
based in Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, she said, it is an average of 18 months before a person
knows he or she is a victim of mail theft. "If you've ever known any
victims of mail theft, it's so emotionally and financially wrecking to people."

To guard against the crime, Tuckett recommends depositing mail at the post
office or just prior to the final pickup.

Postal officials also are increasing security on the locking mechanisms on
the blue deposit boxes, he said.

Utah postal inspectors meet with law enforcement officials once a month.
But because of the limitations related to jurisdiction, the inspectors
favor creating a task force. But, Tuckett said, "we are making a dent in
this problem."

I wish I could explain why meth people are so into that," Ross added, "but
it goes hand in hand."