4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 12, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
More mail thefts in Bayside & Little Neck
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Police are asking northeast Queens residents
to refrain from using USPS mailboxes
as Bayside, Douglaston and Little
Neck continue to be hit hard with mail
fi shing incidents.
According to the 111th Precinct, in
July, checks have been reported stolen,
washed and fraudulently cashed from
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mailboxes
at Bell Boulevard and 73rd Avenue,
Bell Boulevard and Horace Harding,
Springfi eld Boulevard and Kingsbury
Avenue, and Browvale Lane and Th ornhill
Avenue.
Checks were also reported stolen from
mailboxes posted outside of the Little
Neck Post Offi ce on Northern Boulevard.
Th e update follows a number of previously
reported mail fi shing incidents
within the command in recent weeks.
In June, checks were reported stolen
and fraudulently cashed from mailboxes
at 188th Street and 48th Avenue, Bell
Boulevard and 35th Avenue and in front
of the Flushing and Bayside Post Offi ces.
Th e crime trend then moved east and
south, with checks reported fraudulently
cashed aft er being lift ed from mailboxes
at 51-60 Marathon Pkwy., the corner
of Marathon Parkway and Northern
Boulevard, 250-10 Northern Blvd., the
corner of 73rd Avenue and Springfi eld
Boulevard and the intersection of 64th
Avenue and Springfi eld Boulevard.
Police are urging residents not to use
mailboxes in any of these areas and
instead drop off mail inside of their local
post offi ces. Account balances should be
checked frequently to ensure that there
has been no suspicious activity, police
said, and checks should be written with
gel impact pens, which contain ink that is
diffi cult to erase.
During mail fi shing incidents, thieves
attach objects dipped in a sticky substance
to fi shing line and drop them into USPS
mailboxes. Envelopes inserted into the
mailbox by residents then
stick to the object and are
easily pulled out by crooks.
Perpetrators then use an
acetone wash to remove the
ink from the stolen checks
in order to alter payee and
monetary value.
Th e USPS recently began
installing security devices on
the borough’s mailboxes to
prevent further theft s. Th ese
improvements are making
their way toward Bayside,
police said, but mailboxes
will not be secure again until
this change takes place.
During recent crime prevention
eff orts, offi cers from
the precinct arrested Frank
Akinnuoye, a 50-year-old
Forest Hills resident, aft er he was allegedly
discovered stealing mail from residential
mailboxes on 42nd Avenue between
Bell Boulevard and 214th Place on June
27. Police also say they are conducting
plainclothes surveillance operations and
patrols in marked cars near mailboxes to
help deter criminals.
USPS steps up eff orts to secure
northeast Queens mailboxes
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
While northeast Queens continues to
see a spike in mail theft incidents, the
U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the law
enforcement arm of the United States
Postal Service (USPS), is actively investigating
and taking the threat “very seriously.”
All mailboxes in Bayside have either
been retrofi tted or received
enhancements or security
upgrades to protect
against theft s, according
to spokesperson Donna
Harris. Th e group “will
be putting out more” in
the surrounding area in the
near future and is working
with NYPD to investigate
the crimes and spread prevention
tips.
“Postal Inspectors are
investigating and take these crimes very
seriously,” Harris said. “We will spare
no resource to keep the mail safe for our
employees and customers.”
Th e mail is mainly being stolen through
a method known as “fi shing,” where
thieves attach objects dipped in a sticky
substance to fi shing line, drop them into
USPS mailboxes, and pull out the envelopes
inside. Th e crime tends to happen
late at night, Harris noted.
Th e 111th Precinct, which covers
areas of Bayside, Douglaston, Flushing
and Little Neck, has reported numerous
mail theft incidents throughout the
command in recent weeks. Checks were
fi rst reported stolen, washed and fraudulently
cashed aft er being lift ed from U.S.
Postal Service (USPS) mailboxes at locations
including 188th Street and 48th
Avenue, Bell Boulevard and 35th Avenue
and in front of the Flushing and Bayside
Post Offi ces.
Th e crime trend then moved east and
south into areas of Oakland Gardens and
Douglaston and Little Neck. Checks were
reported stolen from locations including
Marathon Parkway and Northern
Boulevard, 73rd Avenue and Springfi eld
Boulevard and the intersection of
64th Avenue and Springfi eld
Boulevard.
Th ose who place mail in
the USPS blue collection
boxes should do so before
the fi nal pick-up time for
the day, which is posted
on the box. Do not place
mail at a time where it will
sit overnight or over the
weekend, Harris said.
The U.S. Postal
Inspection Service spokesperson
encouraged those who are concerned
about the security of their local
mailboxes to place mail in a collection
box in another area or at the local post
offi ce. Residents can also hand their mail
to a uniformed mail carrier.
Police are also encouraging those who
mail checks to use gel impact pens, which
contain an ink that is diffi cult to erase
through the washing method where
thieves use acetone to erase existing text
and alter the payee and monetary value.
Suspicious activity at any mailbox
should be immediately reported to 911.
Glue, tapes or other sticky substances
should be reported to the Inspection
Service at 212-330-2400 and mail theft
should be reported to the local precinct
and the USPS hotline at 877-876-2455.
Photo via Google Maps
A man was found fatally shot in front of this Duane Reade pharmacy on Roosevelt Avenue in
Woodside on July 10.
Probe continues into deadly
shooting outside Woodside store
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Detectives continue to seek clues in a
deadly early morning shooting outside
a pharmacy in Woodside on Tuesday.
Offi cers from the 108th Precinct
responded to a 911 call about an unconscious
man in front of the Duane Reade
store, located at 60-02 Roosevelt Ave., at
12:31 a.m. on July 10.
Upon arriving at the scene, authorities
said, the offi cers found the victim
— an unidentifi ed man in his 40s —
unconscious and unresponsive with gunshot
wounds to his torso. Responding
paramedics rushed the man to Elmhurst
Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Th ere’s no word yet on a probable
cause for the shooting, or a description
of the individual who fatally shot
the man.
Th e crime scene is located a block west
of the busy Woodside-61st Street station
on the 7 line and the Long Island
Rail Road.
No arrests have been made, and the
investigation is ongoing.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
USPS mailboxes
Photo via Twitter/@NYPD111Pct
A warning label recently posted
on a local mailbox
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