Hamburg Mail Grab: $370K Stolen

⏱ 3 min read

Alexandria Duncan, 23, of Buffalo, and her partner drained over $369,000 from Hamburg, New York residents and businesses last October. The pair systematically looted mailboxes using a stolen postal service arrow key between October 9th and 14th, cashing checks from the stolen haul. It wasn’t random; it was a deliberate scheme to siphon cash directly from the mail.

The bust went down October 14th when Duncan dropped Tidwell off near the Camp Road post office. While Tidwell allegedly worked the mailboxes with the stolen key, Duncan waited in the car – and quickly caught the eye of a Village of Hamburg police officer. Tidwell bailed, leaving Duncan to face the music.

A search of Duncan’s vehicle turned up a mountain of pilfered mail, both opened and unopened. Inside, investigators found a staggering $369,104.92 in cashed or intended-to-be-cashed checks. That’s a whole lot of stolen birthdays, bills, and paychecks.

Duncan now faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. As of this writing, the whereabouts of Tidwell are unknown, and his charges remain unclear. The investigation was a joint effort between the Village of Hamburg Police, led by Chief Richard Schara, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, headed by Acting Inspector-in-Charge Nicholas J. Bucciarelli. Sentencing for Duncan is pending.