For the last two months, residents on East Bay Drive have been under siege from daily mail theft, and residents in other rural areas around the city also have started losing mail.

John Wegner, of 66291 Watertower Road, just off East Bay Drive, has had his mail stolen five times since the beginning of the year. Wegner's rural mailbox is on a post at the end of Watertower Road with 10 other boxes. The post is located at the intersection with East Bay Drive, where it's easy for thieves to pull up to the mailboxes and remove everything inside. Wegner also has found mail for other residents of East Bay Drive scattered along Watertower Road.

Wegner said he and his neighbors have found their mail strewn on the roadside. Some has been returned by Coos County Sheriff's deputies, already opened. But most troubling to Wegner, is when his mailbox is empty - and he doesn't know if the mail has been stolen or if there wasn't anything delivered that day.

“This is the time of the year when tax information is being sent out from banks and other institutions, with Social Security numbers on them, making people very vulnerable,” Wegner said.

A bank statement with his Social Security number clearly printed on the paperwork inside, was opened and left beside the road, Wegner said. That makes him very concerned he will be a victim of identity theft, he added.

“We are working with the post office to move our mailboxes to a more secure location, but they've been a little hesitant to do that,” he said.

Residents in the Sumner Road area also have experienced mail thefts during the last few months. Mary Whitty, of 61283 Pierson Road, near Sumner Road, said she and her husband have lost their mail several times from their mailbox at the end of Pierson. Like Wegner's box, the Whitty's mailbox is on a post with five other boxes.

“It's about a half a mile from my house to the mailbox, so it's not like I can keep an eye on it, which is the problem out here in the country,” Whitty said.

According to the Coos Bay Postmaster Kelly Muntifering, rural areas are the most vulnerable for mail theft.

“The majority of mail theft occurs in rural areas, as well as mailbox vandalism,” he said. “We strongly recommend people pick their mail up everyday, because the majority of cases that get turned in are because there was an accumulation of mail in the box.”

Muntifering said mail theft typically picks up over the holiday season, as that's the time when people think there are valuable items in the mail, but it begins to back off after the beginning of the year.

“Occasionally we'll hear of a vehicle that may be following a carrier. If people can be good neighbors to each other and watch for suspicious vehicles around a mailbox, write down a license plate number and turn it in,” he added.

Although the post office can't do much to stop mail theft from occurring, Muntifering encouraged people to aware of the dangers of mail theft, especially with identity theft on the rise.

Identity theft

Identity theft is becoming easier with so much commerce taking place online, and more personal and financial information connected to Social Security numbers, all it might take is a pre-authorized credit card offer to crack open your information and get into your accounts.

Tax forms are a particularly vulnerable piece of mail, which is sent out at the beginning of the year, and features Social Security numbers printed on virtually every page.

“We lost my husband's W2 form. It was mailed out about a month ago, and we still don't have it, so we've been unable to do our taxes and we have no idea who has his Social Security number, which is a real worry,” Whitty said. “We're also getting bills that are overdue because I didn't get the bill to begin with, so it's been quite a problem.”

When Whitty reported the thefts to the Coos Bay Post Office, she was asked to fill out some forms and inform the Coos County Sheriff's Office. Post office personnel also recommended she rent a postal box in the post office until the matter is cleared up.

“It is somewhat inconvenient, but it's not that bad. It's just sad that it's come to this,” Whitty said.

According to Sgt. Rod Summers with the Coos County Sheriff's Office, postal workers and law enforcement officials encourage residents to install locking mailboxes for the whole road, which discourages mail theft, since keys are required for access to the box.

“You do see more of these popping up in the area,” he added.

North Bend Postmaster Janine Pastor said all reports of mail theft are sent to the Postal Inspection Service, a national bureau that reviews the vulnerabilities of postal services and investigates mail-related crimes. The likelihood that an official investigation will be conducted on the mail thefts in Coos County is low, as the Postal Inspection Service is usually more concerned with large-profile crimes, she added.

“Everybody's mail is important, but it's not as high on their priorities,” Pastor said. “People should just always be aware that mail theft is a possibility, and pick up their mail as quickly as possible. We obviously can't watch 5,000 mailboxes.”

Managing the mail

Although managing the postal service for Coos County is a large endeavor, residents said they would like the post offices to be more involved in solutions, rather than explanations.

“There should also be the effort to protect our mail. We aren't comfortable with (the postmaster's) disinterest in protecting our mail,” Wegner said. “It seems to me that it's repetitive enough that they should be able to catch them.”

According to Coos County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert VanZelf, deputies have been placed on more frequent patrols along East Bay Drive, and are searching for suspicious behavior or evidence that could lead to a suspect.

VanZelf said he didn't believe identity theft was the target of the mail thefts, but easier and more obvious grabs.

“I don't think the suspects are beyond using someone's identity to get credit cards, but I don't believe that's the goal,” he said. “They're trying to hit the jackpot. They're trying to find an ATM card with a PIN, or a box of checks for a checking account.”

Regardless of the goals of the thieves, Wegner wants the suspects caught and prosecuted.

“It isn't right that we would allow somebody to steal mail, and expose our private information ... that is ridiculous to me,” Wegner said.