When Those You Trust Turn To Crime

For a number of years now it's been a common-sense precaution to have your newspaper and mail delivery stopped while you are on vacation and away from your home, so a potential burglar doesn't target your house after seeing newspapers/mail collecting in the yard/mailbox.

Have you ever considered, however, that your mail carrier or newspaper delivery person might not be worthy of the trust you've placed in them?

A couple who deliver newspapers in Union County are accused of breaking into customers’ homes while they were out of town and stealing jewelry, coins and other items.

Victims in a dozen cases told investigators they lost more than $30,000 worth of items from their homes, according to a dozen incident reports.

Union County deputies said the victims in the cases all had newspaper subscriptions and had temporarily stopped delivery when they were scheduled to go out of town.

“These folks would then know who wasn’t home and would enter homes and remove items,” said investigator Andrew Mullis of the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

Mullis said investigators have been working on the case for the past year to year and a half. “We knew there was a connection,” he said, “and were just recently able to put all the dots together.”

You're probably better off having a friend or relative collect your mail and newspaper for you, or even have a house-sitter for when you're on vacation.