5 people arrested for mail fraud in Kerman, police say

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A months-long operation has led to the arrests of five people for mail fraud in Kerman.

"Its scary because all of the information, and everything that they can get," said Kerman resident, Linda Valles.

Valles says the brazen burglaries have impacted her community.

"People that I know, that have lost their -- that have gotten everything stolen from them, private information, medication, everything," said Valles.

Kerman police say the mail thieves have struck across the Valley.

"We are reaching out, there's over probably 800 victims so far. Of information that we have in Kerman, there are some that are outside of the city limits of Kerman, all the way up into Sacramento County that we have information for," said Detective Patrick Clark with Kerman police.

On Sunday, officers say they spotted a vehicle matching the description of a car related to recent thefts.

"Got probable cause, stopped the car, contacted the two occupants who were identified in some photos as suspects in these crimes. During the course of his investigation, he located almost 700 pieces of mail not addressed to either one of those two individuals," said Detective Clark.

Detective Clark says they also issued a search warrant for their home that led to more mail being found and more arrests.

The five individuals can be held accountable on the federal level.

"It is a very serious. It's a Federal crime potential penalty up to five years in Federal prison, up to $250,000 fine. Now the investigation that was going on this weekend. Those are state charges, and there's also state penalties," said USPS inspector, Jeff Fitch.

Police adding the thieves used counterfeit keys to steal the mail.

"There was no damage or anything vandalized, so they weren't sure if anything was being missing or not being delivered, a lot of people thought their mail just wasn't being delivered, they didn't notice anything wrong until there was fraudulent use on their credit cards or bank accounts," said Detective Clark.

Detective Clark adding its the community help and reporting from residents like Valles, that allowed them to catch the key players.

"To know that the police department has jumped on it and taken care of it, it makes me feel good about our police department," said Valles.

Officers are now contacting residents who may have been victims of fraud.

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