By Ron Leir
Observer Correspondent
A U.S. Postal Service letter carrier has been charged with stealing more than $20,000 in federal tax refunds from four Lyndhurst residents’ mailboxes, police said.
Investigators from the USPS working with Lyndhurst Police Sgt. John Kerner traced the thefts to a particular postal employee who delivered mail to all four victims who live in the same neighborhood, according to Lyndhurst Det. Sgt. John Valente.
In the process, “we cleared four cases dating from last spring and summer,” Valente said.
Police charged Elvis Castillo, 45, of Union City, with four counts of theft on Oct. 8 after federal postal investigators brought the suspect to police headquarters for processing.
Castillo was released, pending a court date, after posting 10% cash of his $5,000 bail, Valente said.
Castillo has been linked to these federal tax refund thefts:
• A check in the amount of $4,215 reported stolen May 31, 2013, from a location in the 700 block of First St.
• A check for $4,183 reported stolen July 8, 2013, from a location in the 600 block of Lewandowski St.
• A check for $4,407 reported stolen July 23 from a location in the 700 block of Third St.
• A check for $7,200 also reported stolen July 23 from a location in the 600 block of Third St.
All of the victims are within a couple of blocks of each other, Valente said.
Valente said that Castillo reportedly told postal investigators that he was involved in a scheme to take the checks through another individual who would actually take them from the mailboxes and that he (Castillo) would get $500 for each of his “tips” to the alleged confederate.
Valente said he hasn’t been made aware of any other individuals who may have been charged in the caper.
Valente said the stolen checks were cashed at various banks but, again, he said he wasn’t privy to the means or method of how that happened. Any possible forgery charges, for example, would be filed in the community in which the crime occurred, he said.
In other criminal incidents logged by Lyndhurst PD during the past week, police corralled two North Arlington teens in connection with burglaries to vehicles parked in the area of Elizabeth Ave. and Lewandowski St. on Oct. 10.
Police responded to the area at 9:17 p.m. on a report that two females were seen in the neighborhood checking out parked cars and got a description of the females from a resident. A bit later, police – acting on those descriptions – grabbed Maria Mendieta, 19, at Schuyler and Elizabeth Aves., and a 17-year-old girl at Union Ave. at the North Arlington border. Each had less than $5 in pocket change – pennies, nickels and dimes – which police believe was taken from two of the cars in Lyndhurst. Both were charged with theft. The 17-yearold was released, pending a juvenile hearing, to her parents.
On Oct. 12, at 6:08 p.m., police received a report that a boy’s Pacific Silver Wing bicycle, yellow and red, with two flat tires, valued at $100, was stolen from the rear of a residence in the 200 block of Tontine Ave.
And, on Oct. 5, police issued Christine Renna, 32, of Lyndhurst, a summons charging her with shoplifting after security personnel at ShopRite on New York Ave. detained Renna as she was allegedly trying to leave the store with $73 worth of miscellaneous items in her shopping cart.
