Photo by Dan Whisenhunt

Decatur Police arrested a man accused of stealing mail from 36 people.

Police Sgt. Jennifer Ross said at 8:16 am, police responded to a suspicious persons call on East Parkwood Road.

The resident told police that the person had taken mail out of mailboxes. The resident gave a detailed description and told the officers the direction the man was headed. A police officer found the man in the 1100 block of West Howard. He was carrying a bag that contained a lot of unopened mail.

Officers tried to detain him. He tried to pull away. Officers managed to handcuff him, Ross said. Officers found mail belonging to residents of Decatur, Atlanta and DeKalb County. The contents of the bag included credit cards and a driver’s license.

The suspect is a 29-year-old from Roswell. He was charged with theft by taking, theft by receiving stolen property and obstruction of an officer.

More from Sgt. Ross:

Decatur officers have made several arrests in recent months for mail theft due to community members calling quickly and providing detailed descriptions and direction of travel after observing suspects taking items from mailboxes or going to multiple mailboxes. We want to thank everyone for continuing to watch out for your neighbors and calling when suspicious behavior is observed.

Mail theft continues to be a problem in Decatur as well as the Metro-Atlanta area. One of the easier prevention strategies is to install a locking mailbox insert or locking mailbox that allows mail to be placed through a slot by postal carriers but requires a key to open and retrieve the mail.