PD: Stealing Mail Will Land You in Jail

A tipsy woman found herself sobering up in jail after she was caught emptying her neighbors' mailboxes in the wee hours of the night.

At 12:24 a.m. Sunday, the 44-year-old Wauwatosa woman was arrested for theft of mail after an anonymous caller told police she was walking along North 113th Street taking mail out of mailboxes.

An officer spotted her as she was opening a box in the 800 block and carrying a large amount of mail under her arm. When the officer tried to speak to her, she dropped the mail she was holding and started to walk away, but stopped when ordered.

The woman's own address was just a block away, and she claimed she had found the pile of mail as she was walking home. She said she was just going to put it all in the box she had been opening when the officer showed up. He, of course, had a witness who would say otherwise.

The stack of missives proved to be addressed to eight households on 113th Street. The officer collected them and noted that all the owners would be contacted about picking up their mail.

She was clearly intoxicated and later blew a .135 blood alcohol concentration on a breath test. A U.S. Postal Service representative said it was unlikely the woman would face federal charges but wanted her held for questioning. She was sent to the County Jail. Regardless of USPS policy, she will still likely face municipal or state charges of theft.

In other incidents:

Sunday

A resident of the 1900 block of North 71^st Street reported that between 10 and 10:30 p.m. Friday someone entered her unlocked car in her driveway and stole her purse and its contents, including two digital cameras, credit and debit cards, and keys.

A resident of the 4500 block of North 101^st Street reported that overnight someone entered his locked garage and stole a large number of power tools. Police noted that the service door lock was mounted backward and that even in the locked position someone could have slipped a card into the gap between door and frame to slide the bolt open. There were no signs of forced entry. The homeowner estimated his loss at $3,400.

Friday

At 10:25 p.m., a 23-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after he crashed his car onto a guard rail in the median of the 11500 block of West Capitol Drive. The driver smelled of alcohol, failed sobriety tests and blew a .23 BAC.

At 7:10 p.m., a security officer at Boston Store reported a grab and run theft in which a black male, thought to be 17 or 18 years old, snatched up five Michael Kors purses selling for $300 each and ran out the door. He was described as 5-feet-9-inches to 6-feet tall, 160 to 180 pounds, with a light complexion. He escaped in a waiting car described as an older blue sedan, Honda or Toyota, with dark-tinted windows. The license number was taken and the plate proved to have been stolen.

At 1:53 p.m., a 44-year-old Greenfield man was arrested for employee theft after police were called to Assisted Living Pharmacy, 1441 N. Mayfair Rd., on a complaint that he had been defrauding the business by using a company credit card to buy gas for personal travel. The company had audited all its drivers since June and found that while 16 of them were averaging 20 to 22 miles per gallon, the suspect was averaging only 12 to 14 mpg. A company representative staked out the gas station where he filled up daily and saw him swipe the card, put a few gallons in the car and then fill a 6-gallon gas can. Based on the audit and the man’s admission, Assisted Living estimated its total loss, based on 30 gallons per week, at $4,380. His fine was set at $933, and the company said it intended to file a civil suit to recoup its losses.

Last Thursday

At 8:35 p.m., a 26-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after a patrol officer saw him repeatedly weaving from near the curb to over the center line going east from the 6700 block of West State Street. The officer followed him into Milwaukee and pulled him over in the 4600 block. The driver smelled of alcohol and admitted he’d been drinking at a bar just before getting behind the wheel. He couldn’t remember his own address, and said, “I shouldn’t even be driving. I feel really stupid. I can’t believe this happened.” He failed sobriety tests and refused to give a breath sample. He was taken to Wisconsin Heart Hospital for a mandatory blood draw.

March 20

A Wauwatosa man staying at Extended Stay America, 11121 W. North Ave., reported that overnight someone smashed a window in his Jeep Cherokee, parked in the lot, and rummaged through his belongings. He did not notice anything missing.

March 19

Police were seeking two known suspects who have been passing counterfeit checks on an account of the Brookfield Embassy Hotel LTD Partnership, owner of the Brookfield Embassy Suites at 1200 S. Moorland Rd. The suspects, a 29-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man, both from Milwaukee, have passed at least seven fraudulent checks on the account, including one for $655.36 and another for $664. 18 at the US Bank branch at the Pick ‘n Save at 6950 W. State St.

At 5:32 p.m., a 23-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for driving a stolen car after callers reported a minivan stopped in the left turn lane from West Burleigh Street onto North Mayfair Road while the occupants were fighting. One witness stopped and took video of the altercation, and another reported the van’s license plate, which police learned belonged to a minivan stolen Monday in Cudahy. When officers arrived, they found the man walking away from the van and two women standing beside it. They stopped the man, and he denied he had been driving, but both women said he had been. At the station, the suspect continued to insist he hadn’t been driving the van when the police arrived, so they couldn’t arrest him. He refused to be fingerprinted and wouldn’t take off his shoes to enter a holding cell, so officers had to take them off by force. And after all that, the district attorney declined to charge him.

At 10:30 a.m., police were called to the Taco Bell at 510 N. Mayfair Rd. on a report that an employee, a 26-year-old Wauwatosa man, had been seen on a video surveillance record stealing $205 in rolled coins. The coins had been delivered about 9 a.m. by a security firm. The assistant manager later found the bag missing and her “cleaning captain” gone without leave.

March 18

At 11:48 a.m., two Milwaukee men, one 45 and one 48 years old, were arrested for theft from Target, 3900 N. 124^th St., after they were recognized from earlier thefts there on March 9 and 16. They had loaded a cart with $486.74 worth of various merchandise and were heading for the door when they were stopped.