DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — April Thomas knew something was wrong the moment she tried to mail a bundle of letters at one of the big, blue mailboxes outside the Embry Hills post office three months ago.
SLIDESHOW: Sticky Mail Boxes Investigated
"We noticed it wouldn't go down into the box," she told Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Elliot. "So I reached in there, and I felt that there was glue along the lining of the box."
And when Thomas looked inside, she said she saw letters stuck there in the chute, within easy reach of anyone who wanted to take them. She's convinced someone has spread a sticky substance inside the mailboxes in an effort to steal mail. Thomas said she alerted post office officials, and from time to time, she said the sticky substance has been wiped clean, only to be replaced a few days later.
"My fear, especially with the holidays coming up, is that people are going to have mail stolen and money and gifts and anything else that can stick there," she said outside the post office on Chamblee-Tucker Road.
Sticky Mail Boxes Raise Theft Concern
Right now, there's no indication any mail was, in fact, stolen out of these mailboxes, and main post office officials told Elliot that they were not aware of the situation. Stealing mail is a federal offense, and postal inspectors take any infractions very seriously.
Thomas warned customers to make sure their letters make it all the way down the chute into the box before driving away.
"I would say check it. Double and triple check it when you put your mail in there," she told Elliot. "Make sure it's going all the way down or don't mail it that way."
After officials at the main post office first told Elliot that they were not aware of the situation, they later called to say the problem is actually widespread.
Postal Service spokesman Michael Miles said someone has been putting a glue-like substance inside the mailboxes for a couple of months in the Tucker, Chamblee and Doraville areas. He said right now, there's no indication any mail was stolen, but he stressed that any mail theft and tampering with mailboxes is a federal crime.
WSBTV
