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Yoli Gomez Osoria, 27, and Andrea Rose Gomez, 28, both of The Bronx, were arraigned on a grand jury indictment for allegedly mailbox fishing in Atlantic Beach.
It is alleged that on Wednesday, Dec. 25 last year, a Nassau County Police officer on patrol observed Osoria standing in front of mailboxes outside of the Atlantic Beach Post Office, with both hands inside one of the boxes. When he noticed the officer, he allegedly ran away and threw a plastic bottle over a fence.
The bottle was recovered by police, which was filled with an unknown liquid and coated with a sticky substance on the outside with a white string attached.
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said that following a brief chase, Osoria was captured by the officer near his car that his wife, Gomez, was sitting in with the passenger door open.
Inside the vehicle, behind a loose panel in the center console, investigators discovered a brown paper bag containing 35 $100 bills, one $50 bill, and a $100 check, which neither Osaria nor Gomez was the payee or the account holder of.
The 36 bills were later determined to be forged, Singas noted.
Osoria and Gomez were arrested and further investigation found an additional check in Osoria’s possession.
Investigators also found seven sealed envelopes, covered in the same sticky substance as the plastic bottle inside Gomez’s purse, and a further investigation determined the envelopes and checks to be stolen.
Singas said that One of the envelopes contained a $2,800 check. During a later search of the vehicle, police found a glue mouse trap, believed to be of the same consistency as what was found on the bottle.
Singas said that specifically, the two are charged with:
- Thirty-six counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument;
- Nine counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property;
- Fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property;
- Possession of burglar’s tools;
Attempted petit larceny.
“These defendants allegedly tried to swipe outgoing mail on Christmas morning by dangling a glue-coated bottle in a mailbox,” Singas said. “Quick action by an NCPD officer caught these alleged thieves in the act, and our prosecutors will hold them accountable.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection service recommends the following to protect your outgoing mail:
- Deposit outgoing mail at a local Post Office location or hand mail to a uniformed USPS letter carrier;
- Use a blue USPS collection box – be sure to deposit mail before the last pickup time of the day;
- Try not to let your outgoing mail sit in your personal mailbox overnight.
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