PORT ANGELES — Police began Monday to return stolen mail to the post office after finding three batches of it over the weekend.
The mail belongs to people within, and just outside, the Port Angeles city limit.
Port Angeles Police Department Cpl. Barb McFall said the three piles of discarded mail are considered to have been stolen by the same person or people because all the thefts were discovered over a period of two days.
Investigators had no suspects on Monday.
“Some of it was just ripped right in half, but a lot of it had been opened,” McFall said.
“There was medical stuff, light bills, magazines.
“Sometimes this happens, but it has been quite awhile, and we haven’t seen anything like this.”
All of the owners of the mail will be contacted by the police department or the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department in the next couple of days, said McFall and Sheriff Bill Benedict.
Benedict said the county will investigate the incidents outside of Port Angeles.
“We have seen more out in the county, because we have rural areas where fewer people are watching, with fewer lights at night, but we haven’t seen anything like this,” he said.
Once investigators have looked at it, all of the mail will be given to the Port Angeles Post Office so that it can be examined by an inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, McFall said.
McFall contacted the Port Angeles Post Office late Monday afternoon, but had not talked to a post office inspector.
The postmaster in Port Angeles was not available for comment Monday, and calls to the Western Washington region of the postal service office were not immediately returned.
