Mail reported stolen in Highland Park

The holidays can be a time of financial difficulty, which is why people get bonuses and some banks offer Christmas loans, but someone has started to look for a bit of extra cash in other people's mail boxes.

According to Havre's Acting Police Chief Gabe Matosich, a call came in Saturday at around 8 a. m.

The resident of a house near 13th Street West and Boulevard Avenue wanted to complain about their mail laying in the street, taken from the box and flung aside.

As officers investigated the complaint they noticed that the caller's wasn't the only mail box pilfered.

"On investigation they noticed someone had pretty much walked all around the Highland Park area, removed the mail from people's boxes and rummaged through it, " Matosich said. "If they didn't like it, they threw it on the ground. "

The strewn-about piles of mail were found beneath boxes for at least 25 houses, beyond Boulevard into Grant, Washington and Lincoln avenues and between 13th and 11th streets.

Matosich said they suspected the culprit was "looking for Christmas cards or birthday cards for money. "

All of this supposedly took place between Friday night and early Saturday morning.

"If anybody did see anyone out and about in the late hours, they could give us a call and let us know, " Matosich said.

The Crimestoppers phone number at the police department is 265-4444.

Matosich said that he remembered something similar to this happening out in the county a few years ago, but "here in Havre it's very rare that we have anything like this. "

Normally, Matosich said, "they usually just knock all the mail boxes down and smash car windows. "