Desert Hot Springs man claims his mail was stolen from outdoor post office mailbox

Daniel Coover looked over all the paperwork he has ben dealing with, after he says nine of his bills, with checks, were stolen from an outdoor mailbox he used at the post office in Desert Hot Springs, Friday morning, July 26th.

“I hope they find whoever did this,” said Coover.

Coover says he reached his conclusion, about a week later, when checking his Bank of America account statement online, as he says he does every day.

For several days, none of his payments cleared, until finally, one check did clear.

“I hope my credit score is not impacted for late payments,” said Coover.

He says the check that cleared he originally wrote to So Cal Edison for $350..

But, viewing an image of that original check online, he says the check had been “washed”, and made out to “Nester Vern”, for $1,052.

Coover says he quickly put a freeze on his checking account.

“It makes me very angry that someone would steal mail, and wash a check, it’s a quick thousand bucks,” said Coover.

At Bank of America on Palm Drive last Friday, while he filed a claim, Coover says he talked to a couple and another person who he says told him they too had checks tampered with after putting their bills into the mailbox.

“The bank assured me that i was not the only one,” said Coover.

Officials at the bank turned down our request for comment.

We went into the post office lobby and asked to speak to a postal manager on-camera.

We were directed to contact the USPS regional spokesperson.

News Channel 3 spoke with the USPS media relations representative by phone, who said the “officer in charge” in Desert Hot Springs, Tom Ongalibang, said there was “no indication the outside mailboxes were tampered with”.

Coover says he has filed claims with the postal inspector, and says he’s confident that Bank of America will reimburse him for the tampered check.

Coover says he filed a report with the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.

The department has not yet responded to our request for information in the case.