North Royalton residents are being advised not to use the outside mail drop box in front of the North Royalton branch of the Post Office. According to North Royalton Police Chief, the city has been experiencing a number of complaints regarding theft from the outside drop box at the North Royalton Post Office. “They are stealing the mailed checks, altering them, then cashing them,” said Tarase.
The North Royalton Police Department has already received over twenty calls and, according to Tarase, they continue to come in daily. The complaints started coming in at the beginning of July. “There’s been no signs of the box being broken into and it appears that there is a single master key that opens every box.”
Tarase said that the NRPD has received complaints on about $100,000 worth of forged checks. “Many of them, high value checks, were from people paying their taxes. Most checks were under $10,000, which is the federal reporting threshold, said Tarase. “Shame on these banks for cashing these checks, because you can see where it was whited-out and those checks are still being cashed.” He said that there was no particular bank or banking company that had cashed these checks.
Presently, the NRPD is running down those checks that have been cashed. “It takes some time, as we have to subpoena the banks to gather information,” said Tarase. He indicated that in June, the same type of activity was reported in Beechwood. The NRPD has also been working with the Postal Inspector. Tarase said that they stated that they are willing to assist with the investigation, once more information is received.
Tarase recommends that residents who have utilized the outdoor mail drop box since the end of June check their bank statements and cashed checks to make sure they were cashed by those who were intended. If not, residents are recommended to file a police report and file a report with the bank. The bank will look into it and can possibly reimburse the victim with the funds.
In addition, the NRPD also have had reports of theft of rent checks from various apartment buildings in North Royalton, such as Pine Forest and Oakbrook. These were first reported at the end of June/early July. Those drop boxes were not monitored, so there are no video suspects. There were other cities, such as Olmsted Township, where this same scenario has been reported.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer