Accused Orange County Mail Thieves Face Federal Charges

Based on the work of Gentry Mayfield–an alert Tustin Police Department officer, two alleged Orange County mail thieves are facing federal charges today.

In September, Mayfield spotted suspicious activity in a large, Myford Road apartment complex parking lot in Tustin and found John Calvin Hession and Jennifer Summer Evans reclining in a vehicle as if to avoid detection.

Because both Hession and Evans were already on probation, Mayfield searched the duo and found a shredder, binoculars as well as more than 125 pieces of stolen mail, credit cards and checks, according to a U.S. Postal Inspection Service's criminal complaint filed this month.

A postal inspector and a U.S. Secret Service agent encountered Evans and Hession for similar issues three years ago, court records show.

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Following her most recent arrest, Evans–who was born in 1977–claimed the mail had been taken from trash cans.

She is free from custody on $25,000 bail and was ordered to return to Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse on Dec. 16.

Hession, who was born in 1973, refused to talk to investigators and federal prosecutors successfully asked a judge to deny him bail.

A magistrate judge scheduled a Nov. 27 preliminary hearing for Hession, who was sent to state prison in 2011 for committing 13 felonies, including grand theft and possession of credit cards that belonged to other people.

In 2010, he was convicted of drug dealing and earlier this year he pleaded guilty to battery and illegal narcotics possession.

Postal inspectors say that among strategies mail thieves use are stuffing large post boxes with paper so they can reach inside and easily grab later deposited mail. Or, they attach a sticky substance to a rod and fish for deposited mail containing driver's licenses, checks, cash and credit cards.

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