A FILIPINO postal service worker in Fremont, Calif. was charged with mail theft for allegedly stealing numerous cellphones meant to be delivered to customers.
Romeo Moog Talag, 56, of Hayward was named in a complaint filed Dec. 2 in a US District Court in Oakland.
The investigation began in January 2013 when employees at the Irvington Post Office in Fremont found packages “in rifled condition and/or reported by customers as missing,” according to an affidavit from the US Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General.
The affidavit said most of the packages contained high-end smart phones, including iPhones and Samsung Galaxy models, said Special Agent Michael Appio.
In August 2013, when an AT&T customer complained that he never received his Samsung Galaxy S4 worth over $600, tracking data showed the product was marked “available for pickup” at the Irvington Post Office, and linked the activated phone to an account in Talag’s daughter’s name on the same day.
When Appio asked Talag about the missing phone during a September 2013 interview noted on the affidavit, he replied, “I cannot answer that sir. I don’t understand what’s happened. I’m surprised.”
When questioned about his personal cellphone, Talag said that he “bought it on Craigslist,” but it was the missing phone.
“Talag reacted to this question by putting his head down and shaking it side to side, closing his eyes and exhaling deeply,” the affidavit from Appio says. “Talag then said, ‘So I’m the one stealing?’ A moment later Talag pointed at the Galaxy S4 and said ‘I’m sorry for that.’”
When questioned later by postal authorities, Talag eventually acknowledged that he had stolen 10 phones from the mail over a two-year period.
A search of his home and vehicles yielded numerous cell phones, phone parts, a “rifled birthday card” and a $50 Walmart Visa gift card that was reportedly stolen from the mail.
Appio also found a black iPhone 5 box bottom in the kitchen, which Talag claimed was rightfully his. But Appio said he later traced the phone from the box and learned that it had belonged to a Fremont man who never received it.
A letter carrier for 16 years, Talag is the second postal worker in the Bay Area in six months to be charged with stealing mail.
(With reports from Inquirer, SF Gate)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek December 10-12, 2014 Sec. A pg.1)
