2 Charged In Mailbox 'Fishing' Incident In Reading

READING, MA — Reading police charged two men who fished through a public mailbox Thursday, Police Chief David Clark said. Officers were called to the 300 block of Main Street around 2:36 a.m. after the men were seen fishing in a post office box, police said.

The pair had walked away from the mailbox and were seen leaving the area in a white SUV by the time police arrived. Officers found the car parked on Main Street near a mail drop box and businesses that were closed for the night, police said.

A witness told officers the two men in the SUV, later identified as 18-year-old Oscar Nadal, of Boston, and 20-year-old Francis Polanco, of Reading, were the ones she saw fishing in a mailbox outside her apartment, police said.

Officers searched the car and found multiple bills, letters and checks that were not addressed to either man, police said. Among the items found were several pieces of mail with return addresses in Easton, including an open envelope containing an invoice for $5,700 from one business to another. Investigators connected that envelope to a fraudulent check cashed in late October, police said.

Officers also found an item they believe was used to fish inside the mailbox.

Nadal was charged with breaking into a depository, receiving stolen property under $1,200, attempt to commit a crime and common law conspiracy. Polanco faces charges of receiving stolen property under $1,200, breaking into a depository, attempt to commit a crime (larceny), common law conspiracy and receiving stolen property over $1,200.

"Mailbox 'fishing' has been an issue in ours and other communities lately, and I'm glad that these individuals were caught due to an alert resident and the work of quick-acting officers," Clark said.

Nadal was held without bail on an existing warrant for his arrest and was taken to Woburn District Court. Polanco was issued a summons.

Other incidents of mailbox fishing remain under investigation.