Man Arrested In Early AM Morningside Heights Mail Theft: Police

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — For some, gone fishing means gone to jail.

A Bronx man was arrested after "fishing" mail from USPS mail boxes in Morningside Heights early Tuesday morning, according to police.

Keuri Rodriguez, 21, was arrested and charged with criminal possession of stolen property, scheming to defraud, possession of burglary tools, petit larceny and criminal tampering, officials said.

Rodriguez was cuffed at about 7 a.m., officials said, just 30 minutes after the first call came in.

At around 6:30 a.m., a neighbor called 911 to report a man they saw trying to steal mail from a mailbox near West 116th Street and Broadway, according to police. The witness told officers that they saw the man flee south, officials said.

While searching the area, officers quickly found a man trying to "fish" mail from a USPS mailbox, police said.

Officers said they watched the man throw a fishing device to the ground as they approached him.

In addition, five checks were discovered on his person that were not made out to him, officials told Patch.

Theft from USPS collection boxes has plagued many neighborhoods in recent years, particularly regarding a practice known as "fishing," which is when crooks insert a belt or string into a mail slot with adhesive on the end to try and steal mail.

In October, federal prosecutors indicted 27 people for mail theft in Manhattan. If convicted, many could serve up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said at the time.