Here’s how a tracking device helped catch a mail fraud suspect
By Meghan Schiller
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A mail fraud crackdown led to the arrest of a Philadelphia man at a hotel room in Wilkins Township.
It all started after postal inspectors installed a hidden camera at the Penn Hills Post Office. Investigators said the camera captured a man in a white Chevy Camaro removing all the mail from a blue collection box and dumping it in his car.
A few days later, investigators dropped a tracking device in the blue collection box. Officials said the same suspect returned and stole the mail again.
The tracking device led investigators to the Comfort Inn on Rodi Road in Wilkins Township.
Once investigators got a warrant to search the hotel, they said they found 321 pieces of stolen mail inside a duffel bag in a room rented by Steven Goldwire. They also found a bag of mail in the trash can in the hotel vending machine area down the hall.
Investigators said they found Goldwire with two cell phones on him and two Western Union money orders, presumed to be stolen, made out to Pittsburgh Water and the Department of Transportation.
Investigators say this is just one example of how they are taking mail theft seriously and throwing resources at the problem.
Court documents also show this Philadelphia man also faces charges in Conshohocken for stealing checks from mailboxes there last summer. Investigators say Goldwire had the key to open the mailboxes, saying he stole $56,000 worth of checks.
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