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Residents fear mail issues will get worse if USPS doesn’t act now

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — More than 100 people have reached out to U.S. Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher’s office regarding issues they are facing with their mail.

That information was included in a letter she sent to the Postmaster Inspector General requesting an investigation into three area post offices.

“We’ve heard of stolen passports, social security cards, prescriptions, the check washing,” said Fletcher. “I have heard multiple post offices and that’s a huge concern.”

Since 2019, her office has gotten more than 100 complaints of stolen and lost mail, mailbox break-ins, and washed checks in post offices.

Dr. Alesha Russey said she received a notification in January saying a package was delivered to her apartment. When she went to pick it up, she could not find it. Six months later, she still does not have the package.

“I honestly believe it was an internal Postal Service infraction,” Russey said.

She has spoken to her apartment management and the Julius Melcher Post Office near W Alabama Street.

A spokesperson for USPS told on Wednesday that if Russey believes it is an internal issue, they cannot provide any information.

“The items were from my mother,” Russey said. “They can’t be replaced. Irreplaceable. I had jewelry in there and most importantly, some of my items from Jackson State University were in there. My season tickets.”

She has since reached out to Fletcher’s office for help. Meanwhile, in west Houston, Nick Kornuta, the HOA president for Terraces on Memorial, said he also reached out to the congresswoman.

“It was three rounds of problems about six or eight days apart over two or three weeks,” Kornuta said.

Someone got a hold of the master key to the community mailboxes and got inside all 18 boxes throughout the neighborhood.

“The mailboxes were open,” Kornuta said. “Mail was in the wrong place, some was on the ground. The doors were open.”

Both Kornuta and Russey are hopeful that Congresswoman Fletcher’s request for an investigation will prove fruitful.

Fletcher has asked USPS to look into the USPS Post Office Ashford West, Westbury and Julius Melcher station.

In that letter, she referenced an report that aired in February citing concerns about vandalized mailboxes at the post offices in southwest Houston+

In any instances, the theft is resulting in check washing. Police say in one case, $80,000 was taken out of the victim’s account.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Inspector General issued the following statement.
Fletcher is encouraging her constituents who may be facing these issues to contact her office, located at 5599 San Felipe St Suite 950, at (713) 353-8680.

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