Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho has a clear message: “If you are stealing mail, you are going straight to jail.”
Local leaders announced the formation of the Sacramento Mail Theft Task Force during a Monday news conference in North Natomas, calling it a coordinated effort among the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Rancho Cordova Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service and its Postal Inspection Service.
Sacramento County ranked among the hardest-hit areas in the nation for mail theft, Ho said, particularly in the Natomas neighborhoods of Sacramento, as well as Folsom and Rancho Cordova.
Mail theft has led to identity theft, financial fraud and delayed government assistance, particularly for seniors, Ho said. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove, a physician and former Sacramento County chief medical officer who represents much of Sacramento County in Congress, said many seniors rely on the mail to receive medication and critical medical information.
Mark Hodges, the assistant inspector for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s San Francisco division, said the consequences of mail theft “go way beyond the financial loss.”
“Every American depends on the Postal Service for reliable and efficient delivery to every address in America, and mail theft erodes that trust in the mail,” Hodges said.
A main cause of theft is stolen master keys used to break into cluster mailboxes, Ho said. Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, who represents North Natomas, said an audit showed errors and issues with postal inspector offices’ processes, leading to the master keys being stolen.
Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan joins area leaders and community members Monday in North Natomas as they announce a Sacramento Mail Theft Task Force, between the District Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
“We know this is mostly a federal offense,” Kaplan said, recounting a conversation with Ho in the forming of this task force. “What can we do differently for our community? Because our community doesn’t want to hear there is nothing we can do.”
While the federal threshold to prosecute mail theft has been $250,000 or more in losses, Ho said thefts below that amount still affect residents and must be addressed.
From January 2025 to February, the District Attorney’s Office received more than 300 mail theft cases and prosecuted about 80%, Ho said. People convicted of felony mail theft could face up to three years in state prison, with longer sentences possible for those with prior criminal histories.
How can residents protect themselves from mail theft?
Kaplan encouraged Sacramento County residents to sign up for informed delivery, a service through USPS that notifies people what will be delivered to their mailbox every day.
She also encouraged people to report mail theft to the police and the Postal Inspection Service, as well as notify their elected representative.
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 1:09 PM.
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Camryn Dadey is The Sacramento Bee’s Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova watchdog reporter. She is a 2022 graduate of Sacramento State.