Credit: Butler County Jail
Credit: Butler County Jail
“The theft of mail can be hugely disruptive to the lives of those whose private communications are stolen, opened, and exploited,” Parker stated. “This sentence should be a warning to anyone tempted to break into a collection box in search of easy money that doing so comes with considerable consequences.”
The Kettering Police Department “became aware very early in the investigations into the post office drop box thefts that the perpetrators of these crimes were taking the entire contents of the drop boxes and sorting everything after the fact,” patrolman and department spokesman Tyler Johnson previously said in an email.
Police urged residents to go inside the post office with mail during open business hours instead of using the outdoor collection boxes.
To help catch the culprits, Kettering detectives received permission from the USPS to place GPS devices in three dummy parcels “packaged and marked to appear as a legitimate piece of mail … inside each of the three blue collection boxes” at the Forrer Boulevard post office, which was targeted in prior thefts, according to an affidavit signed by U.S. Postal Inspector Brett Yenger.
Kettering police were alerted May 19, 2022, that the dummy parcels were on the move. They tracked the mail to an apartment building on Gracemore Avenue in Kettering near The Greene, where it became stationary, Yenger’s affidavit stated.
Police conducted surveillance of the apartment and saw Calahan leave the building carrying two black trash containing mail and two of the GPS parcels. A search of Calahan’s apartment turned up 250 stolen checks, nearly $1,700 in cash, a $1,000 money order and two firearms. Two weeks before his arrest, Calahan had fraudulently deposited a $6,100 check, which had been stolen from the U.S. mail and altered to a different payee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Two other men were arrested following surveillance at the Kettering apartment.
Leonard Blackstone III, 21, of Kettering walked out carrying a “a number of personal checks in various names.” When police approached him, he dropped the checks. Blackstone was sentenced July 5 to two years probation after pleading guilty to obstruction of mail, according to court documents.
Jeffrey Weaver Jr., 23, of Centerville exited the same building with a small bag that contained checks and a firearm. He pleaded guilty to receipt and unlawful possession of stolen mail, the same charge to which Calahan pleaded guilty. Weaver is scheduled to be sentenced July 28, according to federal court records.
USPS TIPS
• Drop off mail at slots inside post office buildings, many of which have 24-hour lobby access. Lobby hours are posted online at https://tools.usps.com/find-location.
• Do not mail cash.
• Contact the post office inspection service to report mail theft activity to its 24/7 hotline, 1-877-876-2455, email CFOMT@uspis.gov or at its website, www.uspis.gov.
