SUGAR LAND, Texas — A traffic stop early Wednesday led to the arrest of a man accused of possessing stolen mail and a universal mailbox key, according to Sugar Land police.
Around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, officers stopped a vehicle with paper tags which are no longer legal in Texas.
During an inventory search of the vehicle, officers found stacks of mail belonging to Katy residents and an illegal U.S. Postal Service mailbox key, according to Lt. Jeffrey Glass.
"When we see those things, we generally understand that those are associated with criminal activity," Glass told KHOU.
Glass said the key is designed for cluster or community mailboxes. Thieves obtain counterfeit versions of these keys to open cluster boxes and remove large amounts of mail at once, he said. Possessing a universal mailbox key is illegal unless the person is a U.S. Postal Service worker.
"Thieves find these counterfeit keys and go to these cluster mailboxes and remove a lot of mail at one time," Glass said.
The driver, identified as Hung Cong Le, 51, was arrested and taken to the Fort Bend County Jail. After Le was transported to jail, officers found additional credit cards belonging to other individuals in his wallet, police said.
Le is charged with fraudulent possession of a credit card, mail theft and unlawful conduct involving a mail receptacle key.
The stolen mail will be returned to the owners in Katy after being held as evidence, police said.