Along Hunnell Road, mail was stolen from Tumalo mailboxes that had been broken into – including 23 unopened ballots

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A large amount of mail – including 23 unopened mail-in ballots – was stolen from broken-in cluster mailboxes in Tumalo and recovered Friday after being dumped along Hunnell and Loco streets on the north end of Bend, Deschutes County. had been dumped, sheriff’s deputies said.

The sheriff’s office was contacted around 8:30 a.m. Friday by a citizen who was driving through the area and spotted a large amount of mail on the side of the road near Hunnell and Loco streets, Sergeant Jay Minton said in a news release.

The mail appeared to have come from an adjacent pair of locked cluster-style mailboxes in Tumalo, which had been pried open when officers arrived.

Most of the recovered mail was addressed to households within a 94 radius^Th The road, which runs between Tumalo Road and Old Bend-Redmond Highway, Minton said, while some is intended for “some other roads nearby.”

All 23 ballots recovered were unopened, the sergeant said, although “other pieces of mail were opened and the contents appeared to be missing.”

“We do not believe the ballots were the intended items that the unknown suspect intended to steal,” Minton said.

All stolen and recovered ballots were returned to the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office, Minton said. If you have not received your ballot by next Wednesday, Minton recommends contacting County Clerk Steve Dennison at 541-388-6547.

“The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind our community to be vigilant in monitoring their mail as it is delivered,” Minton said. “Mail theft unfortunately occurs year-round, but historically increases at this time of year, during the holidays.”

Minton said the sheriff’s office recommends community members check their mail regularly and not leave it in mailboxes overnight.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is monitoring the mail theft investigation, said U.S. Postal Service regional spokeswoman Kim Frum. She also noted that the USPS offers a free Informed Delivery service that sends a daily email preview of what mail or packages will arrive in a customer’s mailbox.

While a roadside homeless encampment on Hunnell Road was removed by the city of Bend last year, there are currently no encampments in close proximity to the recovered stolen mail, according to Minton. “We have not linked this case to any temporary camps or individuals at this time,” the sergeant said.

There is currently no way to find out whether stolen ballots were kept by the theft suspect(s). But Dennison, the county clerk, said there are safeguards in place to prevent someone from using someone else’s ballot to vote should they try to do so.

He clarified that the returned, stolen ballots would not simply be sent out again – they had been inactivated and replacement ballots would be sent out.

All ballots cast will be subject to signature verification, Dennison noted, and it is also possible that intended recipients will contact his office to inform him that they have not received their ballot.

“We do not accept ballots without a signature” on the return envelope, he said, nor those with invalid signatures.