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What is mail theft for identity information
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek, and our team has over 40 years of combined experience defending federal criminal cases. We’ve handled high-profile matters that captured national attention – Anna Delvey’s case became a Netflix series, we represented the juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell misconduct situation, and we’ve defended clients in cases involving Alec Baldwin. If you’re reading this, you’re likely facing serious federal mail theft charges involving identity information, and you need to understand what you’re up against.
Mail theft for identity information isn’t just about taking someone’s letters. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1708, stealing mail becomes a federal felony – but when that mail contains credit cards, bank statements, tax documents, or personal identification, prosecutors add aggravated identity theft charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. That mandatory consecutive 2-year sentence gets stacked on top of whatever time you’re facing for the underlying theft. The government doesn’t need to prove you actually used the identity information, just that you possessed or transferred it.
What Federal Law Actually Criminalizes
Section 1708 makes it illegal to steal mail, take mail from authorized depositories, or buy and receive stolen mail matter. The statute covers more than just physically grabbing envelopes from mailboxes – possessing stolen mail is enough. Federal prosecutors don’t distinguish much between someone who steals directly from a USPS collection box and someone who buys stolen mail from another person. Both face up to five years in federal prison and fines reaching $250,000.
When that mail contains “means of identification” – Social Security numbers, driver’s license information, credit card numbers, bank account details – the case transforms into something far more serious. A Pensacola man received 25 months in federal prison in September 2025 for possessing stolen mail and means of identification. An Oklahoma City defendant got 92 months in March 2025 for mail theft combined with witness tampering. These aren’t outliers, they represent where federal sentencing has moved in 2025.
The identity theft component carries mandatory minimums that judges cannot reduce. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, aggravated identity theft under section 1028A requires a consecutive 24-month sentence that must run after any other punishment imposed. If your mail theft case involves terrorism-related offenses, that mandatory minimum jumps to five years. Average sentences for identity theft cases rose from 44 months in fiscal year 2020 to 54 months in fiscal year 2024 – the trend is unmistakably harsher.
How Loss Calculations Destroy Your Sentencing Range
Mail theft cases fall under U.S. Sentencing Guideline §2B1.1, which uses loss amounts to determine your base offense level. Small-scale theft might start at offense level 6 or 7, but prosecutors calculate “intended loss” – not just what you actually stole or used. They look at every credit card in every envelope, every bank statement showing account balances, every piece of mail that could have been used for fraud.
Steal mail from 20 different people? The government counts every potential victim. Each victim over 10 triggers a 2-level enhancement. More than 50 victims adds 4 levels. The loss table in §2B1.1 increases your offense level exponentially – $6,500 to $15,000 in intended loss adds 4 levels, $250,000 to $550,000 adds 14 levels. These aren’t theoretical concerns. In 2025, four individuals faced charges in a $63 million mail theft conspiracy that included two postal employees.
Federal judges look at sophisticated means enhancements, role in the offense (were you an organizer or just a participant?), and obstruction of justice. Lie to postal inspectors during the investigation and watch your sentence increase by two levels. The guidelines are advisory after *United States v. Booker*, but judges still calculate them – and most sentences fall within the guideline range or just below it.
Your criminal history matters enormously under the sentencing table. Category I defendants with low offense levels might face probation or minimal custody time, but Category III or IV defendants facing the same charges could be looking at years in federal prison. The intersection of your offense level and criminal history category determines your guideline range, and that’s where defense work becomes critical.
How Federal Prosecutors Build These Cases
U.S. Postal Inspection Service doesn’t mess around. They use surveillance cameras on collection boxes, bait mail with tracking devices, and coordinate with local law enforcement when residential mailbox thefts spike in specific areas. Postal inspectors have law enforcement authority – they can execute search warrants, make arrests, and testify as federal agents. When they find you with 50 pieces of stolen mail and multiple credit cards that don’t belong to you, the case practically builds itself.
Many mail theft prosecutions start with something else. You get pulled over for a traffic stop and officers see mail scattered in your vehicle. You’re arrested on state charges and police inventory your belongings – finding dozens of envelopes addressed to other people. You try to cash a stolen check and the bank alerts authorities. Sometimes postal employees are involved, like the 33 defendants charged in California for crimes against USPS, with most being employees who stole mail or embezzled from the agency.
The government doesn’t need to catch you in the act of stealing mail from a mailbox. Possessing mail addressed to someone else – especially when it’s been opened or tampered with – creates reasonable inferences that you either stole it or knowingly received stolen mail matter. Federal prosecutors in 2025 are aggressive about pursuing these cases because identity theft affects multiple victims and often involves organized criminal activity.
What Happens When You’re Facing These Charges
Federal charges don’t work like state court. There’s no preliminary hearing where the government has to show probable cause. Instead, most federal cases proceed by indictment from a grand jury, and grand juries indict in the vast, vast majority of cases. By the time you’re formally charged, postal inspectors and federal prosecutors have built a substantial case file.
Cooperation becomes relevant quickly. The government wants to know where you got the mail, who you sold information to, whether you’re part of a larger operation. Substantial assistance under U.S.S.G. §5K1.1 and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b) can reduce sentences significantly, but cooperation isn’t simple – you’re providing testimony against others, wearing a wire, or participating in controlled operations. That carries risks.
Some defendants fight the loss calculation. If the government claims $400,000 in intended loss based on credit limits and account balances in stolen mail, your attorney should challenge whether you actually intended to exploit those full amounts. Judges have discretion in determining relevant conduct for sentencing purposes. Challenging victim counts can also matter – proving that multiple pieces of mail belonged to the same household might reduce the victim enhancement.
Others fight the identity theft enhancement itself. Section 1028A requires that you “knowingly transfer, possess, or use, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person” during and in relation to a felony. If you stole mail but never opened it or accessed the identity information inside, there’s a potential defense. But prosecutors argue that possessing sealed mail containing identity documents is enough – and many courts agree with that interpretation.
Federal sentencing has become increasingly harsh for identity-related offenses because the damage spreads across multiple victims and creates long-term financial harm. Banks lose money, individuals spend months repairing credit, fraud investigations consume resources. Federal judges see these cases as serious – and sentences reflect that perspective in 2025.
At Spodek Law Group, we’ve handled federal cases with complicated facts and high stakes – the kinds of matters where other lawyers say the outcome is predetermined. Mail theft involving identity information puts your freedom at risk for years, not months. The sentencing guidelines are complex, the mandatory minimums are unforgiving, and prosecutors have tremendous leverage. If you’re under investigation or already charged, you need lawyers who understand federal procedure and sentencing advocacy. We represent clients facing these exact charges, and we know how the government builds these cases and where vulnerabilities exist in their evidence.
The difference between five years in federal prison and a sentence measured in months often comes down to how your attorney addresses loss calculations, challenges enhancements, and negotiates with prosecutors before sentencing. Federal mail theft cases move quickly once charges are filed – don’t wait until you’re already sentenced to get serious legal help.