Six people were arrested in the past few weeks in connection with mail thefts around Mountain View, bringing to seven the total number of suspects in custody, the city's police department reported Monday.
Melissa Henry, 39, of San Jose; Andrew Perez, 39, of San Jose; Brenden Mackay, 31, of Milpitas; Sabrina Abad, 41, of San Jose; Steven Ross, 34, of San Jose; and Amanda Pappas (age and city of residence not provided) were arrested on mail theft and other various charges, police said.
The investigation dates back to August when detectives began looking into a series of burglaries where suspects were able to enter apartment complexes with empty duffel bags and used counterfeit U.S. Postal master keys to open entire mailbox banks and steal mail, police said.
The suspects targeted locations in the 1900 block of West El Camino Real, the 800 block of West El Camino Real, the 500 block of San Antonio Road and the 1000 block of Castro Street, police said. The thefts usually took place in the early morning hours, and some were captured on surveillance video.
Three of the suspects -- Abad, Ross and Pappas -- were arrested Saturday while driving into an apartment complex in the 1600 block of West El Camino Real and appeared to be working together, police said.
Mackay was arrested Jan. 2 in the 2200 block of Showers Drive after he was seen wandering through an underground parking garage looking into the vehicles, police said. He had stolen mail, a counterfeit U.S. Postal master key and a postal mail lock on him.
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Henry and Perez were arrested together Dec. 31 in the 2600 block of West El Camino Real with more than 100 pieces of stolen mail in their possession, police said.
Back on Oct. 27, Brianna Jensen, 25, of San Jose was arrested after leading Santa Cruz-area deputies on a chase. She was in possession of mail from the 800 block of West El Camino Real in Mountain View, along with a counterfeit U.S. Postal master key, police said.
It was not clear if Jensen was connected with any of the other suspects.
U.S. Postal Inspectors also have filed multiple charges against several of the suspects, police said.
The police department has returned or is in the process of returning stolen mail, credit cards and identities to victims.
