Man had 3,000 pieces of stolen mail — worth $1.5 million — at NJ home, feds say
A New Jersey man stole more than $1.5 million in checks and money orders from mail collection boxes in Connecticut, federal prosecutors said.
Now, Ixavier Holman, Jr., is sentenced to three years of probation and 150 hours of community service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut said in a July 15 news release.
Tracy Hayes, Holman’s attorney, called the court’s sentence “well reasoned, thorough and just” in a July 16 statement to McClatchy News.
Between December 2022 and June 2023, Holman was seen on security cameras taking mail from collection boxes at three post office locations in New Haven and West Haven eight times, according to a complaint.
The United States Postal Inspection Service further identified him through fingerprint evidence and motor vehicle registration records, according to court documents.
As Holman was stealing mail in the early hours of June 12, 2023, USPIS inspectors approached and arrested him, prosecutors said, adding that at that time, he had two stolen arrow keys with him.
In an interview with investigators, Holman said he was stealing the mail for a third party he met over the messaging app Signal, prosecutors said.
When investigators searched Holman’s apartment in New Jersey, they found more than 3,000 pieces of stolen mail with stolen checks and money orders — worth more than $1.5 million — organized by bank, prosecutors said.
Investigators also found two stolen white United States Postal Service tubs, a credit card embosser and a credit card reader, according to court documents.
Holman pleaded guilty to theft of mail in November, prosecutors said.
Mail theft
During the early COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sharp increase in mail theft complaints, according to a September 2023 report issued by the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General.
From March 2020 through February 2021, there were 299,020 mail theft complaints – a 161% increase “compared to the same period in the previous year,” the report said.
Suspected mail theft can be reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service online or by calling 1-877-876-2455.
