San Carlos Mail Thief Sentenced to 18 Months

The former U.S. Postal Service letter carrier who stole thousands of pieces of mail from San Carlos residents last year, was sentenced to 18 months in jail on Tuesday.

According to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, Romeo Natan, 39, of San Bruno, was placed on three years supervised probation and will likely serve his jail sentence in a residential drug treatment program.  

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Natan’s defense attorney, Michael Hroziencik said the sentence allows his client the treatment he needs for his drug addiction.

Prosecutors say Natan took the mail, which included numerous credit cards, to finance his drug habit. Natan used some of the stolen credit cards, while others were given to friends, who have also been prosecuted.  

Natan was caught when an accomplice was arrested and fingered him as the source of the stolen cards. He was also spotted on surveillance video, using pilfered cards at a Target store in Colma, court papers indicate.

He was arrested on Dec. 19 after Daly City police obtained a search warrant for his home and found more than 2,000 pieces of mail in a storage closet as well as more than 1,000 other pieces of mail in the trunk of his car. According to the district attorney's office Natan pleaded not guilty in January to one felony count each of identity theft, fraud and burglary.  

The San Jose Mercury News reports that among the pieces of stolen mail found with Natan, was a long-lost telegram from 1938 belonging to a the family of San Carlos resident Christine Anderson.  

The telegram was sent the day after her parents’ Christmas Eve marriage in Reno, NV.  

“This is the opening page of their story, Anderson told the Merc.  

Natan has been in custody since his arrest in December.