Plano post office under scrutiny amid residents out thousands of dollars after mail stolen

It's a list no one wants to be on, and it's growing in a North Texas city.

Authorities believe more than 80 people since February have had their mail, which included checks, stolen from a post office in Plano. 

The vast majority of the thefts have happened at one postal location, and both victims and authorities are concerned that the crime could be an inside job involving postal employees. 

The U.S. Post Office on W. Parker Road is a place Jim Frankenfield no longer feels comfortable even approaching.  

"I stopped using it, don't even go near it," he said.

Patty and Jim Van Allen feel the same way. 

"Something's going on inside the post office," said Patty Van Allen.  

Victims' checks being cashed in postal scam

The decades-old post office is now the subject of local and federal investigations, according to CBS News Texas sources. 

There have been 72 police reports filed in the past three months alone, complaining that mailed checks have been stolen and washed by criminals who are cashing them for tens of thousands of dollars. 

"I had 15 letters stolen out of the mail, and three of them were washed for incredible amounts of money," Frankenfield said. "We all deposited inside the mail slots, and mine was after 5 o'clock, so it's gotta [sic] be an inside job."

Frankenfield is not the only one worried that someone working inside the building is stealing mail and committing massive check fraud. 

"So, what they're doing is, they're recruiting people to infiltrate the Postal Service to steal mail," said Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers' Association. 

He believes the problem is related to a U.S. Postal Service decision to hire non-career employees to work in its mail centers. 

CBS News Texas found in the USPS OIG's Fall 2024 Semiannual Report to Congress that "… recently, there has been a growing threat. Criminal organizations are targeting, recruiting, and colluding with postal employees to move narcotics through the postal network and to steal checks — both personal and government-issued checks."

The USPS OIG's Spring 2025 Semiannual Report to Congress said that, "...internal mail theft was PREVALENT in processing facilities around the country due to a lack of a nationwide policy restricting personal belongings on the workroom floor, which can be used to conceal stolen mail."

"For them to say prevalent, it has to be really bad," said Albergo. 

Recent arrest and investigations of mail theft 

Just last month, Carrollton Police arrested two people driving a stolen U-Haul truck that led officers on a high-speed chase while carrying a load of stolen mail. 

CBS News Texas has documented how overstuffed collection boxes and robberies of letter carriers for their keys have made mail theft easier for criminals. 

The likelihood that criminals have now found their way inside post offices could erode public trust in the government agency. 

"We were a little surprised how heavy it is because they were dropped off on the inside," said Jerry Minton with the Plano Police Department.

Plano Police has handed over its cases to the postal service inspection office, which declined CBS News Texas's request for an interview, only saying in a statement:

"The USPS OIG considers the allegations of theft of U.S. Mail by any Postal Service employee to be a very serious issue. When such allegations are made, USPS OIG special agents vigorously investigate those allegations," said Roxanne Dukes, assistant special agent in charge, public information officer, USPS Office of Inspector General. 

The Van Allens had a nearly $4,000 check to pay taxes stolen from the mail. They said they dropped it off at the Wildcat station in Plano. 

It's taken weeks for their bank to refund their money. 

"I kind of just let it go because I thought there wasn't anything we could do about it, other than get the word out, but he's been obsessing about it," said Patty Van Allen. 

Other victims, like Frankenfield, who lost $15,000, are still up to their ears in paperwork to get their money back after thinking they were being extra careful by dropping off their mail inside facilities. 

"I took them inside thinking that was safe," he said. "It used to be great; lately, it's a piece of garbage the way it's run."