A man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly stealing mail and impersonating a postal worker multiple times in Murray Hill this year.
Daniel Holmes was arrested on Aug. 21 for allegedly obtaining and using a U.S. Postal Service mailbox key to steal mail from locked relay boxes and mailboxes in Murray Hill. His charges include impersonating a postal worker and committing mail theft.
Holmes is alleged to have committed the crimes in at least eight separate incidents from February to July 2024, according to U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) court documents.
DOJ declined to comment on the case. But, video footage from the first incident, which occurred on Feb. 7 at around 12:58 p.m., shows the defendant in a postal service uniform allegedly stealing mail from a relay box on Park Avenue South. In the video, he walks away with a box of mail.
On April 3 at around 4:25 p.m., Holmes took his criminal activity inside a residential building on East 29 Street. Video footage shows the defendant allegedly rifling through mailboxes.
The brazen thief also hit two relay boxes on East 27 Street in June.
Holmes is alleged to have hit other locations on East 28 Street, East 29 Street, East 30 Street and Lexington Avenue throughout his crime spree, court documents show.
Police records and video footage helped law enforcement zero in on their suspect.
Holmes was previously arrested in Manhattan on July 4 after he was seen using a key to steal mail from a mailbox panel in an East 37th Street apartment building.
Using a court-authorized search warrant, NYPD officers tracked him down and found he had an official postal service key and mail, including a pension check, addressed to residents of the building, court papers show.
The defendant will appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang later on Thursday.
