California woman fed up with stolen mail sends Apple AirTag to herself to catch thief

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman fed up with her packages getting stolen out of her post office box sent an Apple AirTag to the address and cleverly tracked down the suspected thief, police said.

The woman had had several items stolen from her mailbox at the Los Alamos Post Office, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday. If her mail was stolen again, she hoped the AirTag would help to track the thieves down.

On Monday morning, sheriff’s deputies were called to the post office for a report of mail theft. When they arrived, the woman told officials her mail had been stolen again — including the package with the AirTag.

Law enforcement tracked the AirTag to a block in Santa Maria, about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the post office and arrested two suspects — a 27-year-old from Santa Maria and a 37-year-old from Riverside.

They located the package with the AirTag among the victim’s mail, as well as items believed to have been stolen from more than a dozen other people. The woman declined to be identified, the sheriff’s department said.

The two suspects were booked in jail on charges of possession of checks with intent to commit fraud, conspiracy, and identity and credit card theft. The 37-year-old was also booked on a burglary charge and several other theft warrants from Riverside County.

The sheriff’s department commended the mail theft victim for contacting law enforcement so they could apprehend the suspects rather than attempting to contact them on her own.