Man arrested in Seattle mail thefts that halted delivery for hundreds
SEATTLE – A man believed to be responsible for a string of mail thefts across the Seattle area, including thefts that halted mail delivery for hundreds of residents, has been arrested, federal prosecutors said.
Johny Mixayboua, 27, appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to face mail theft and possession of stolen mail charges. He’s accused of stealing five mail trucks and an unknown number of postal keys – and spending, or attempting to spend, on at least $7,000 worth of items using stolen credit or prepaid cards.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges Mixayboua stole mail throughout Seattle and as far north as Lake Forest Park, south as Tukwila and east as Snoqualmie. He was identified in surveillance footage showing trucks and mail being stolen, as well as in video from businesses where he tried to purchase items with stolen cards, prosecutors said.
The Postal Service temporarily stopped delivering mail to hundreds of Southeast Seattle residents in the 98118 ZIP code earlier this month, citing a rapid increase in mail theft. The agency halted the deliveries until postal inspectors could track down Mixayboua, according to a criminal complaint.
He was taken into custody without incident last week, Postal Inspector John Wiegand said.
The complaint details a monthslong string of thefts that allegedly began in December, when a mail truck was stolen in Skyway, along with a postal key used to access most cluster box unit mailboxes in the 98178 ZIP code of Southeast Seattle. Such mailboxes contain several compartments for residents along one street or complex, and can be opened using one key.
Soon after the truck theft, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the law-enforcement arm of the USPS, began receiving reports of the cluster mailboxes being opened without any damage in the 98178 ZIP code. In one incident at a mobile home park, surveillance footage showed two people opening a cluster mailbox and putting all the mail into a trash bag.
In January, two mail trucks were stolen only minutes apart in West Seattle. Home-security footage obtained from a resident showed two people moving mail and parcels from the truck to another vehicle, and witnesses later said they saw two people moving mail and parcels from the second vehicle to a third.
Less than two weeks later, another mail truck was stolen in south Beacon Hill and abandoned a few blocks away. Security footage showed Mixayboua walking around the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.
Meanwhile, there were several reports in Snoqualmie of stolen mail and opened mailboxes that investigators believe were accessed with a postal key. Someone matching Mixayboua’s description was captured on security footage at the Snoqualmie Casino the same days the thefts occurred.
A fifth mail truck was stolen near a Skyway mobile home park in late March. The next day, postal investigators identified Mixayboua as a suspect in a Kirkland mail theft case where a stolen COVID-19 Immigrant Relief prepaid credit card was used to buy roughly $3,000 worth of items.
In mid-April, postal inspectors began tracking Mixayboua at a Tukwila home as Lake Forest Park police reported yet another mail theft case.
On the morning of May 1, a person matching his description used a postal key to enter an apartment building in Columbia City, suggesting he had obtained keys for the 98118 ZIP code. About a week later, the Postal Service directed some residents in that ZIP code to pick up their mail at their local postal annex.
It’s unclear how the postal keys were stolen. Carriers are usually assigned one key per route and must keep them attached to their belts or clothing by a chain, according to the Postal Service. Wiegand said the thefts remain under investigation.