Two suspected mail thieves were thwarted by a tracking device and a Santa Barbara County woman who was fed up with her mail being stolen.
On Monday, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Los Alamos post office shortly after 7 a.m. for a report of mail theft. Thieves stole items from a woman’s mailbox, and it wasn’t the first time the box was hit, she told deputies.
But this time she decided to take matters into her own hands and mailed herself a package containing an Apple AirTag, a tracking device that can be used to help people locate their personal items via a Bluetooth signal.
Her mail was stolen Monday, according to the Sheriff’s Department, including the package with the tracking device. The woman showed deputies she could trace the package to the 600 block of E. Sunrise Drive in Santa Maria.
Deputies found the woman’s mail, including the AirTag package along with items believed to have been stolen from over a dozen additional victims, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities arrested Virginia Franchessca Lara, 27, of Santa Maria, and Donald Ashton Terry, 37, of Riverside, on suspicion of the thefts. Lara was charged at the Northern Branch Jail with possession of checks with intent to defraud, fictitious checks, identity theft, credit card theft and conspiracy, the Sheriff’s Department said. Her bond was set at $50,000.
Terry was charged with burglary, possession of checks with intent to defraud, credit card theft, identity theft and conspiracy. He was also charged with multiple theft-related arrests from Riverside County. His bail was set at $460,000.
In a press release, the Sheriff’s Department thanked the mailbox’s owner for taking a proactive approach and for not trying to confront the suspects on her own. The case is still under investigation to identify any other victims.
A pack of four AirTag tracking devices costs $80 and is about the size of a half dollar coin. Apple is in the middle of a class action lawsuit in California which accuses the company of taking insufficient steps to prevent stalkers from using the AirTag tracking devices, which the Silicon Valley company once called “stalker-proof.”