OCR Text |
Show Apprehension Of juveniles Solves Post Office Theft THE apprehension of three Roosevelt boys between 12 and 14 years of age, solved the 10-day 10-day mystery of the post office theft, which involve! the loss of checks drawn on the Roosevelt Roose-velt State Bank, and a small package consigned to a local merchant. The perpetrators of the offense, an offense which had its origin in misguided curiosity, cur-iosity, were taken into temporary tempor-ary custody by Postal Inspector J. T. Gardiner. Inspector Gardiner disclosed that no apparent ulterior motive mo-tive was connected with the theft; that the juveniles who committed it were spurred on by a desire to see what went on in the mail room of the post office, of-fice, and failed to realize the serious consequences which might result from their act. The story, as released by both the Roosevelt State Bank and Inspector In-spector Gardiner, is an unusual account of a boyish prank that ended in the commission of a Federal ' offense. The three juveniles, whose, names are being "withheld, con-' fessed to the postal "qfficial that they were in the lqbby'of the id-car id-car post office Sunday, May 17, and that one of their number expressed a desire to learn what the mail room looked like. Whereupon he climbed onto the small counter at the window, and from there scaled the partition par-tition separating the lobby from the work room. Once inside, and presumably after, completing his tour of inspection, in-spection, the boy approached the box containing mail for the Roosevelt Roos-evelt State Bank, withdrawing the Federal Reserve cash letter in which was' sealed" the checks mailed to the bank for payment. The youthful explorer also removed re-moved a package from the box containing mail for Sather's Jewelry. HOLDING firmly to his loot, the juvenile intruder pulled himself him-self back over the partition dropped into the lobby and joined join-ed his companions. In the short blind alley adjacent tp the Cash Meat Market the bundle of checks totaling an estimated $75,-000 $75,-000 was opened. No explanation has been given by either Inspector Gardiner, or the implicated juveniles as to why the checks were- burned, but when they were discovered the following morning some had been completely burned and others partially destroyed by fire. The package addressed to Sather's Jewelry, which is believed be-lieved to have contained articles of jewelry, has not yet been recovered. re-covered. The case, which constitutes a felony under Federal law, has been referred to the ynited States District Attorney for appropriate ap-propriate action, and further word regarding it will be released releas-ed from that office, Inspector Gardiner stated. For the benefit of it's depositors, deposi-tors, the Roosevelt State Bank advised, Wednesday afternoon that no money loss is involved. A stop order on the payment of all checks contained in the Federal Fed-eral Reserve Bank cash letter, which was taken from the post office in the bold juvenile entry, would become necessary. The greatest difficulty, bank officials pointed out, would be the extra bookkeeping required because of the incident. |