SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. – Authorities said that Davie police arrested three people for stealing mail from homes in Southwest Ranches.
Mail theft has been a problem for a while now in Broward County and one of the women who was arrested on Wednesday says she regrets what she did.
21-year-old Angel Edwards, spoke to Local 10 News’ Ian Margol from her home in Hollywood, just days after she was arrested for mail theft.
Edwards said she had just lost her job and was desperate to help support her family.
“For me, it’s because I have very bad financial problems with my family,” said Angel Hernandez who is being charged with mail theft.
Edwards said she was influenced by another female that was committing mail theft for over three decades.
“I was just with this other female that, she had been doing it for 33 years and she knew that I had financial problems and she wanted to help me,” said Edwards.
The other woman Edwards referred to was identified as Rachel Kawesch, whom prosecutors called the “Ringleader” of the operation.
According to Edwards, “She (Kawesch) knew which places were the best way to steal mail to get cash.”
A Davie police officer spotted Kawesch and Edwards walking a dog through southwest ranches around 3 a.m. on Wednesday and noted the pair were wearing backpacks.
After the officer questioned the women, both Kawesch and Edwards allegedly admitted to going through mailboxes and were taken into custody, along with a 3rd person, Luciano Pereira Dos Santos, who had come to pick the women up.
Southwest Ranches Council Member Bob Hartmann warned others that mail theft often occurs at night.
“Some people will leave their mail in the box a day or two and at night is predominantly when these crimes occur,” said Hartmann. “Sometimes they’re not far behind the postal carrier and they will essentially grab the mail as the postal carrier makes the turn onto the next street so it’s a problem.”
After getting a search warrant, police found two more identical backpacks in his car and said the 4 bags they recovered were stuffed with hundreds of pieces of stolen mail.
“I feel really guilty because that’s their stuff and it wasn’t really anything that I wanted to do, but like as I said my people have financial problems and I was only trying to help,” said Edwards.
To prevent mail theft the U.S. Postal Inspection Service gave the following recommendations:
•Remove mail daily
•Hand outgoing mail to your carrier or mail it at a Post Officer or USPS collection box
•Watch out for your neighbors
•If you see something suspicious, call 911