海角社区官网police have arrested one man and are looking for another suspect, both allegedly in eight residential buildings downtown.聽
Residents of three downtown buildings told the Star last week that there had been a rash of mail thefts in the area, including one suspect who was caught on surveillance camera using the master key to access the mailroom at 135 George St. South in the St. Lawrence Market area. Canada Post initially called the incident “vandalism.”
Master keys are used by mail carriers to give access to a building’s mailrooms and tenant’s mailboxes.聽
“It was clearly a much larger incident and affected more buildings than people had been saying,” said David Crawford, who is president of the condo board at 135 George St. South. “It clearly wasn’t vandalism, and certainly when I spoke to people at Canada Post, they all seemed to think it was exactly what it was.”
The Star found there were similar incidents at the 160 The Esplanade and 70 Mill Street. Mail delivery service was suspended from those buildings and residents had to go to the Canada Post headquarters at 600 Commissioners St. to get their mail.
Residents had heard from mail workers in the area that several buildings were affected, but Canada Post refused to give any additional information, citing security concerns.
鈥淎s there is an active investigation with local law enforcement, we are unable to comment further or provide more details. We don鈥檛 divulge specific security measures or broader information related to our equipment publicly as doing so would hamper their effectiveness,鈥 said a statement from Canada Post when initially asked about the thefts.
Residents pointed out if someone isn鈥檛 expecting something specific in the mail, they might not have any idea it鈥檚 been stolen.
“There is sometimes a case for keeping things quiet but it’s very strange especially with a theft of this kind, in which you may not literally know it is happening, you would think they would want to tell people to keep their eyes open,” said Crawford.聽
, eight buildings were targeted and the perpetrators were using master keys as well as a Canada Post jacket to impersonate a mail carrier. The suspects stole a large number of mail, parcels, packages and personal identification, and police recovered identity documents and credit cards.
Canada Post has changed the locks on the mailroom and mailboxes at the affected buildings.聽
A 36-year-old man was arrested and charged with 13 counts of Break and Enter, 13 counts of theft of mail, 13 counts of Possess Key for purpose of committing crime, 4 counts of Personation to gain Advantage, six counts of possession of an identity document, 19 counts of possess/use Credit Card Obtained by Offence, seven counts of Possession of Property obtained by crime., 4 counts of Procures to make and Identity Document.
Police are still looking for another suspect, a male, 27, wanted for a number of similar charges.
The thefts in downtown 海角社区官网were similar to a spate or robberies in Ottawa In 2020. CBC reported that thieves were using a master key to burgle mail rooms in several residential buildings in Ottawa. The thieves were only discovered through security footage that showed one incident, and after review of surveillance feeds from nearby buildings found they had been committing robberies for months.
Correspondence can be used for identity theft, which the charges indicate is also a factor in this case. Victims of fraud and cybercrime in Canada lost more than $638 million in 2024, with the highest number of victims in 2024 from identity fraud with 9,487 reported cases.
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