CHICAGO — A U.S. Postal Inspector hunting a suspected mail thief spent three days on a stakeout before finally catching his man at 4 a.m. on Christmas Eve, according to Chicago police.
The postal inspector was looking for Matthew Hutcheson, 33, in connection with a burglary in the 400 block of North Carpenter in the West Loop in August, a CPD report said. Hutcheson’s luck ran out when the undercover inspector spotted him in the first block of East Benton, near his Loop apartment.
The police report stated that Hutcheson had a postal service master key when the postal inspector arrested him. However, a separate criminal complaint said the key was a forged copy of a mail carrier’s master key.
The police report stated that those keys, also known as “arrow keys,” can open postal service blue boxes, apartment and condo mailbox panels, and “call boxes of almost all city of Chicago apartments and condominiums. “
Experts say the stolen master keys, also known as “arrow keys,” are used by theft crews that steal checks, credit cards, and documents to fuel identity theft operations.
Hutcheson is also accused of carrying an ID with his picture but another man’s name and debit cards in another name. He’s charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools, possession of a fraudulent ID, and misdemeanor resisting.
At the time of his arrest, Hutcheson was on pretrial release for another case in which he is accused of possessing five postal service master keys and a stolen U-Haul van in Edgewater on June 11.
Judge Susana Ortiz detained Hutcheson for violating pretrial release.
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