Oak Bay, Port Ludlow and Port Hadlock residents’ mailboxes have been the targets of random thefts, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
Also targeted were more than a dozen vehicles parked in Sequim, in which documents, cell phones and other identifying items were taken.
And authorities in both Clallam and Jefferson counties allege that two people from Port Hadlock may have been responsible for all the thefts — plus an attempted home entry in which the homeowner surprised the alleged burglar.
Several reports of empty mail boxes and scattered mail in the Port Ludlow, Oak Bay and Port Hadlock areas were reported to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday, Clallam County sheriff’s deputies arrested two Port Hadlock residents — Theodore S. Dale Jr., 29, and Rachel A. Mitchell, 23 — for investigation of a residential burglary in the Sequim area.
Clallam deputies reported that a search of their car uncovered large amounts of mail and other items allegedly stolen earlier.
Investigators said they think Dale and Mitchell were involved in at least 15 alleged vehicle prowls in Sequim on Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Of the 15 vehicles that were “prowled,” to use the police term, 13 weren’t locked, Sequim police reported.
The thieves took compact discs and cellular phones, and went on to swipe pieces of mail, car registration documents and forms of identification.
“These were clearly crimes of opportunity. Who knows how many car doors they tried, found locked, and passed by,” said Sequim Police Sgt. Sean Madison.
Most of the Sequim car burglaries occurred around condominiums at 300 N. Sequim Ave. and in the vicinity of Littlejohn Way, said Sequim police spokeswoman Maris Turner.
