KETTERING — A woman is left trying to close bank accounts and protect her funds after she says checks that were mailed at a Kettering post office Memorial Day weekend never cleared.
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An employee of the Kettering post office located on Stroop Road arrived at work May 26 to find that one of the mail drop boxes by the road was opened, according to a Kettering police report. Inside the drop box, the postal employee discovered someone cut the cloth bag out of the north mailbox and stole the bag of mail.
WHIO learned of the investigation after Jane Bidwell called our newsroom, explaining she sent 13 checks by mail on Memorial Day, and went to the post office asking questions after none of the checks cleared. She told News Center 7’s Sean Cudahy, workers there informed her of the break-in.
“What I’m kind of shocked about is they didn’t alert the public, so now we’re in this bind that we’re having to close bank accounts, trying to re-issue and credit that we’re not going to be charged for cancelling checks and late fees,” Bidwell said.
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According to the Kettering police report, a postal worker told police on scene, “It is possible one of the employees failed to properly secure the door after emptying the mailbox.”
That report goes on to say police reviewed surveillance footage from Memorial Day weekend from a camera at a nearby business, which showed a car driving past the mailboxes where the burglary happened, but the videos “do not show anyone tampering with the mailboxes.”
Investigators say the theft happened sometime between May 23 and May 26.
Kettering Police do not report any arrests.
When News Center 7 contacted the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, a spokesperson said, “Postal inspectors aren’t aware of any mail theft at this time,” but added such a theft would be a federal crime. If anyone used the mailbox and mail was not delivered as expected, they are asked to contact 1-877-876-2455.
Meanwhile, Bidwell says this crime has been of great inconvenience for her.
“I’m shocked that this went through a three and a half day window where people were depositing mail and nobody was made aware,” Bidwell said.
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