USPS mailbox key found during Oakwood police search of car

Anthony Delven Parks and Kyon Maurice Reese, both 18, were charged with receiving stolen property and the key was found hidden in a cell phone case after they were detained by police, the document states.

Postal service collection box keys, known as arrow keys, have been reported stolen on at least three occasions in the Dayton area since March 2022, police records show.

They are “fairly easy to duplicate,” Frank Albergo, national president of the postal police officers’ association, said earlier this week.

The car driven by Parks was stopped by police after authorities said it had no visible registration while heading north on Far Hills Avenue about 3:45 a.m., according to the report.

An Oakwood officer approached the car, talked with the two occupants and smelled what he believed to marijuana. After the officer instructed the two to step out of the vehicle, Parks said he could search the car, according to the report.

After more discussion with the two, an Oakwood police officer said “without my asking, Parks again told me to search the vehicle…”

Aside from Oakwood, Beavercreek, Dayton, Huber Heights, Kettering, Centerville/Washington Twp. and Trotwood are among the local communities where mail-related crimes have been reported.

Since late 2021, USPS mailbox thefts were recorded from at least seven different jurisdiction’s post office collection containers, amounting to thousands of dollars in stolen checks.

In the Oakwood case, the search of the car yielded “several packages and envelopes that were in plain view” and “none of the envelopes were addressed to or from either Parks, Reese, or the vehicle’s registered owner,” Parks’ mother, the police report states.

Both Parks and Reese “denied any knowledge of any stolen packages, envelopes or other mail-related items,” according to the report.

Later that morning, Oakwood police were informed that a USPS drop box at 2601 Far Hills had been tampered with, the report states.

Parks and Reese are both scheduled for a hearing May 18 on the charges, first-degree misdemeanors, according to Oakwood Municipal Court records.

The postal service inspector’s office is working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio on the case, Nicole Lutz, a spokeswoman for the inspector’s office, said in an email.