Postal parcels pilfered

Usually, when Jenna Ponder of Yuba City opens a birthday card from her grandmother or aunt, she finds money.

Not last month when she turned 9.

"I asked her how much she got and she said nothing," her mother, Liz Ponder, said Thursday.

"I was sad — and kind of surprised," said Jenna, who was counting on adding to her Littlest Pet Shop collection and maybe put aside some money for the TV her family has done without for the past year.

Turns out Jenna didn't just open a couple of cards — she opened a door on an investigation by the U.S. Postal Service into the theft of cash from mail.

Liz Ponder said she first suspected the carrier who delivers to the family's modest McRae Way apartment — but soon found out the problem is much larger.

Regina King of the Postal Service's Inspector General Office in San Francisco confirmed Wednesday that thefts are being investigated.

"Yes, we are aware of problems in that area regarding losses and we're looking into it," said King. "We're aggressively pursuing it to protect the sanctity of the mail."

King declined comment on how many complaints have been received and from how large an area.

But Liz Ponder said she was told by Yuba City Postmaster John Batch that the investigation is targeting the Olivehurst mail processing facility that serves Yuba City, Marysville, Linda — even Oroville.

Batch said Thursday he could not comment. Marysville Postmaster Matthew Valdivia could not be reached for comment.

According to Ponder, Batch said he and Valdivia spent a day looking into thefts at the Olivehurst facility, without success. He expressed frustration at how long the investigation is taking, she said.

Ponder said she quickly reported the thefts after Jenna's Aug. 9 birthday. When she talked to Batch, he told her he had finished talking to another theft victim 20 minutes earlier, she said.

It must have been obvious to the thief that the envelopes addressed to Jenna were birthdays cards. Both were brightly colored and bore birthday stamps, Ponder said.

When they arrived, the envelopes looked like they had been chewed up in a sorting machine, she said.

King asked the Appeal-Democrat to delay publishing a story about the thefts, saying the thief will be warned before he or she can be arrested. But Ponder said she hopes publicity will solve the crimes.

"Sometimes when you put the heat on, people start talking," Ponder said.

"That's all I want — I want it to stop. So many people put their faith in trust in the Postal Service," she said.

Jenna's dad, Tim, came up with the cash to compensate Jenna for her birthday loss, she said.