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Co-op City resident arrested after breaking into mailboxes in Building 17

Responding to reports of a series of lobby mailbox break-ins in Building 15A and Building 17, Coop City Public Safety assigned extra officers to patrol those locations more vigilantly and the move paid off late Monday evening, January 18, 2016, as officers observed a man breaking into a mailbox in the lobby of Building 17 and arrested him.

According to a Public Safety report on the incident, during a sweep through Building 17, after 11 p.m. Monday, the officers observed a man breaking into a mailbox. Officers contacted the resident who the mailbox belonged to and confirmed that no one was authorized to go into the resident's mail box. At that point, the officers placed the suspect under arrest.

The man is believed to be responsible for numerous similar mailbox break-ins. He is also believed to be responsible for the theft of some Christmas decorations taken from the annual display in the lobby of Building 15A.

Coop City Public Safety Department's, Captain James Keappock said that it was the report of the stolen Christmas decorations, filed by the Building 15A Association President, that initially caused Co-op City Public Safety to review surveillance footage of the lobby and then discover that the person stealing the decorations was known to the department because of prior arrests in the community and it was likely that the same person who stole the decorations might be responsible for the troubling mail theft tread.

At the time of his arrest, according to the report, the suspect was found to be in possession of a knife believed to have been used to pry open the mailboxes, a master key to the back door of the building, a substance believed to be crack cocaine and numerous pieces of mail not addressed to him.

Perhaps adding to the suspect's legal concerns, the officers reported that the suspect became irate when the officers attempted to arrest him and made several attempts to bite the arresting officers. After the arrest, the suspect was transported to Jacobi Medical Center for further evaluation.

The 45th Precinct and the United States Postal Police are also involved in the continuing investigation.

A spokesperson for the Bronx District Attorney's office said that the suspect was arraigned on January 20, 2016 and bail was set at $5,000. The suspect was due back in court yesterday, January 22, 2016.

According to the Criminal Complaint against the suspect, released through the Bronx DA's press office, the charges filed against the suspect include Grand Larceny in the 4th Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 4th Degree, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, Resisting Arrest and Criminal Trespass.

According to the Complaint, the suspect was not only found to be in possession of various pieces of mail, not addressed to him, but also five debit and/or credit cards bearing different names. A person whose name was on one of the credit cards recovered, was contacted and confirmed that the defendant was not given permission or authority to be in possession of the card.

Chief Frank Apollo, Commanding Officer of the Co-op City Public Safety Department, called these crimes very serious because mail theft not only involves the potential theft of valuable personal items, but more likely and more importantly, the theft of personal information that can be garnered from various stolen pieces of mail, including credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and bank and checking account numbers.

In a message to the department's officers after the arrest was effected, Chief Apollo said, "There is absolutely nothing more satisfying than when a post condition is generated to specifically target certain areas in the community with the hopes that a person of interest is apprehended. I want to take the time to recognize the officers for their outstanding observation, investigation and apprehension in this case. The individual apprehended has been under investigation by the U.S. Postal Police who have been working closely with members of our squad on this matter."

The individual arrested, a former resident of Building 3B, has a prior history of this type of crime. On April 1, 2014, Public Safety, working with the 45th Precinct, obtained a search warrant for his residence and according to a holdover memorandum filed at the time, recovered a number of items, including controlled substances,checks and mail belonging to other people.

According to the holdover memo, at that time, numerous charges were filed against him, including numberous counts of Grand Larceny in the 4th degree, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, Petit Larceny and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance.

As noted in the same memo, in 2009, the same suspect was arrested by NYPD Intelligence for the alleged possession of fraudulent checks. Coop City Public Safety assisted NYPD in making that 2009 arrest.

By Bill Stuttig
Coop City Times is now online

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