STOCKTON, CA – Three men were arrested last night in Stockton for stealing U.S. mail. Last night at around 3 am, an alert officer saw a vehicle traveling through a neighborhood in a suspicious manner. The vehicle sped through the neighborhood and a traffic stop was initiated for a vehicle code violation. The driver, 26 year-old Stockton resident, Vazh Stratton, was found to be on probation. A probation search of the vehicle led to the discovery of several pieces of mail not addressed to any of the three occupants in the vehicle, along with burglary tools. Additional officers searched the cluster mailboxes and found four cluster mailboxes that had been broken into.
“Throughout the holiday season we assign additional officers and detectives to assist our patrol units in directed holiday patrols,” the department said. “Those additional officers direct their efforts to crimes commonly seen during the holiday season to include: mail theft, theft from stores, and porch package thefts.”
Stratton, along with 39-year-old Analilia Acosta and 41-year-old Jose Arevalos, both from Stockton, were arrested for various charges and transported to the main jail. The mail was collected and is in the process of being returned to the rightful owners.