NJ man charged with stealing mail from collection boxes in CT

By Rob Polansky and Matt McFarland

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    NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (WFSB) — A man from New Jersey was arrested for stealing mail from collection boxes in New Haven and West Haven.

Ixavier Holman Jr., 31, of Secaucus, NJ, was taken into custody on Monday, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut and the inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, on at least six occasions between Dec. 2022 and June 2023, Holman used stolen mail collection box keys to steal mail from blue collection boxes at post offices located at 95 Fountain St. in New Haven and 589 Campbell Ave. in West Haven.

Officials said Holman was arrested Monday morning after he returned to the West Haven post office and accessed the collection box in an attempt to steal more mail.

Investigators believed, at the time of his arrest, that Holman possessed two mail collection box keys.

The complaint charged Holman with possession of a postal key, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, theft of mail, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, and theft of U.S. Postal Service property, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of three years.

Holman appeared Monday before A U.S. magistrate judge in New Haven and was released on bond.

This investigation has been conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the West Haven and New Haven police departments.

“I put it right in this box over here and it never made it to them,” said Inga Nelson.

Nelson talked about would be Valentine’s cards for her grandkids in Arizona.

“Just a little bit of money for their banks, it wasn’t much, they were happy, they said Nan, you didn’t send us any Valentine’s. I said I did but you didn’t get them,” Nelson said.

In one instance in mid-February, investigators said Holman: “…removed mail from the white postal tub before closing the USPS collection box…placed the mail in the passenger seat…entered the driver’s seat and drove away.”

Prosecutors said he also targeted the post office on Fountain Street in New Haven’s Westville neighborhood and even from outside the CVS on Jones Hill Road in West Haven.

“I would put the mail in the mailbox here in front of the post office and I thought it was very safe, because it was in front of the post office, but it wasn’t,” said a man who asked not to be identified.

The man wonders if he’s a victim too, after a check was stolen from the box on Fountain Street back in the fall.

“I was checking my account online and there was a check written for $12,000 for somebody else, in somebody else’s handwriting so I immediately knew was a fraud,” he said.

While investigators said cameras captured the thefts, they added license plate readers and cell phone records also put Holman’s cars at the scene or in the area on the dates and times in question.

Prosecutors said his fingerprints were also on a few of the white mail tubs inside the blue collection boxes.

They are also looking for a second suspect who was with him during some of the thefts.

“Now I don’t mail anything in a box. I got right into the post office and make sure it goes in the slot and I don’t mail any more money. I’m glad they caught them,” Nelson said.

The US Postal Inspection services continues to investigate along with the New Haven and West Haven Police Departments.

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