RICHMOND, Va. — New data from the Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General reveals 56 complaints of internal mail theft in the Richmond area over a recent six-month period, with certain zip codes experiencing higher rates of incidents.
The Office of the Inspector General received these complaints across 16 different zip codes in the Richmond area between October 7, 2024, and April 21, 2025.
Zip code 23222, which includes Richmond's Highland Park and parts of Henrico, accounted for 16% of all complaints.
Other hot spots for mail theft complaints include zip codes 23232 and 23238.
Of the 56 total complaints, 49 involved mail theft or destruction of mail, while one complaint concerned delayed mail.
Watch: Which neighborhoods are experiencing the most mail theft?
Six complaints were specifically about postal employees' "arrow keys" being lost or stolen. Arrow keys are master keys used by postal employees to access mailboxes and collection boxes.
The Postal Inspection Service addressed the issue of these specialized keys during an April 22 press conference.
"I can't get specific to our countermeasures, but I can tell you that deployed in this area, we do have some security countermeasures that are 'key' alternatives, and we're going to continue to look at other technologies to basically devalue that arrow key," Michael Romano, a Postal Inspector who covers the Richmond region, told reporters.
Currently, 26 of the 56 complaints remain "open," according to the data provided.
Another 27 complaints were elevated for further review, though most were eventually closed.
Based on the information we received from a Freedom of Information Act request, it appears only one investigative case was created from a hotline complaint, which was reported on February 24.
The Office indicated it was also investigating three separate cases that were either brought directly to their office or created based on trends. Two involve "Willful Delay of Letter Mail." One involves potential theft or
In its FOIA response, the Office of the Inspector General stated that while every allegation is important, each must be ranked due to the high volume of daily allegations and limited investigative resources.
The office also noted that all allegations are saved for further review and could become part of future investigations.
The information provided did not indicate whether complaints were substantiated or if any suspects were found guilty.
CBS 6 also submitted Freedom of Information Act request to the Postal Inspection Service regarding external mail thefts, but have not yet received a response from that agency.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky| Facebook| Instagram| X| Threads| TikTok| YouTube
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
