Cops nab mail thieves at Bedford post office

By THANE GRAUEL and EVE MARX

The Bedford Police Department has been investigating a rash of thefts from local postal dropboxes that then spread to other towns, and last week made good on comments they expected to zip the case up quickly.

Three men were arrested Friday, May 22, near the Bedford Hills post office and are facing a variety of charges. The action came after weeks of investigation aided by license-plate reading technology and physical surveillance. Police had suspects and details of their vehicle.

Bedford detectives had been probing thefts from the blue boxes in Bedford Hills and Katonah for several weeks before thieves began pushing the envelope and targeting drop boxes elsewhere, including Cross River and Pound Ridge. Mail was going missing, and checks were found by many people to have been “washed,” altered and cashed by the wrong people.

Police had said thieves were using sticky materials to insert into the boxes, preventing mail from dropping down to the collection bins below.

Police were watching the dropbox outside the Bedford Hills post office about 11 p.m. on May 22 when, they said, the suspects arrived.

“Three individuals exited the vehicle, two of which stood by as lookouts, while the third male walked to the USPS drop box and removed multiple pieces of mail and concealed them down his pants,” police said. “Members of both the Detective Division and Patrol were already in the area surveilling.”

Police said they had gotten license plate reader hits that indicated their suspects’ vehicle was headed back to Bedford.

Police said that after the vehicle arrived and mail was swiped from the box, the three were standing outside their vehicle. Investigators moved in and arrested the trio. Police said it went down without incident.

The three men were brought to police headquarters for processing. Police said all have records of prior arrests.

Arrested were Breilin Mirabel Matos, 26, of Mount Vernon; Orbik Gutierrez, 29, of the Bronx; and Raymond Duluc Nathanial, 23, of the Bronx. All were charged with four counts each of petit larceny and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, and a single count each of sixth-degree conspiracy and possession of burglary tools.

Whether the trio might be charged in any of the other thefts in the area remains to be seen.

“They can only be charged at this time with thefts witnessed by the police officers,” Bedford police said.

All three are to return to court June 10.