Snee Oosh mail thefts under investigation

Swinomish Police have asked those with security cameras along Snee Oosh Road to contact the department following a rash of recent mail thefts in the area.

Tribal officers began fielding reports of suspected mail theft along the heavily traveled road on Swinomish Reservation in mid-April. Officers investigating those complaints found a substantial amount of discarded mail from neighboring streets off Snee Oosh.

The area in question runs from State Highway 20 to Pull-N-Be-Damned Road.

The thefts have some Snee Oosh and other La Conner area rural residents considering use of locking mailboxes.

“Now is the time,” Joanne Liantonio wrote in a social media post.

Mail theft has emerged as a widespread problem throughout the Puget Sound region.

“It was a big reason I moved from Kirkland,” said Tracy Pegg.

Pegg said locking mailboxes are not totally effective.

“Lock boxes were even more fun for them,” Pegg said of the mail thieves. “The only thing that worked were the industrial kind where the whole neighborhood had slots in a locked box.”

The local thieves are likely working on foot, given the amount of traffic on Snee Oosh Road.

“Stopping on Snee Oosh is virtually impossible,” said Jennifer Foote, “because you can get rear-ended.”

Foote said her mailbox was targeted on or about April 20.

“I was pulling out of my driveway and I looked to my right and noticed I had a package on the ground,” she said. “I went to pick it up and noticed it had been slit open. None of the mail was stolen but both packages had been slit open. Luckily, it wasn’t anything important, but as I drove down Snee Oosh (I saw that) every single mailbox was open.”

Swinomish Police have posted photos of discarded mail found along Snee Oosh Road.

Tribal Police Chief Earl Cowan is asking Snee Oosh residents having security cameras facing the road or mailboxes to call the department at 360-428-3211 and ask to speak to a Swinomish officer.