WAUWATOSA, Wis. — A Wauwatosa bride-to-be is warning others after more than 100 wedding invitations and a rent check vanished after being dropped in a local U.S. Postal Service mailbox.
Brittany Voigts dropped the mail at a USPS drop box near 63rd and Lloyd. After a month passed with no RSVPs and no returned mail, she realized there was a problem.
"We sent out our wedding invites. It was probably around over 100 of them," Voigts said. "Nobody got them. So now we started to investigate with the post office."
Voigts is the fiancée of TMJ4 producer Sam Dunnum.
TMJ4 retraced her steps and spoke with Brittany's mother, Debbie Voigts. She reached out to the postal service a couple of times and said postal workers told her some mailboxes had been tampered with and advised her not to use them.
"They're looking for money or checks in the mail, so and she said it was all of Tosa," Debbie said.
"That's where we kind of had the alarm bells go off," Brittany said.
Brittany said a rent check also disappeared and never made it to their landlord.
"I mean, with the post office saying don't use our mailboxes, that's pretty terrible," Brittany said.
Watch: Wauwatosa bride-to-be warns of USPS drop box theft after invites, check vanish
TMJ4 reached out to the Wauwatosa Police Department and USPS for answers. Wauwatosa Police Lt. Joseph Roy confirmed the department is aware of incidents involving missing or stolen mail, including items placed in public drop-off boxes. Roy said determining exactly where the theft occurred can be challenging, and the department currently has no specific leads or suspects.
Spencer Block, a postal inspector and public information officer in Chicago, said the incident is part of an ongoing investigation. Block noted that while the overwhelming majority of postal collection boxes are safe, the agency is installing high-security collection boxes nationwide through a joint venture called Project Safe Delivery.
Both police and USPS recommend residents use secure options, such as handing mail directly to a postal worker or mailing items from inside a post office, especially for sensitive items like checks.
"Drop it off directly at the post office and make that extra step to physically give it to somebody," Brittany said.
With tax day approaching, the family wanted to share their experience to protect others.
"I think of everything else that's been potentially tampered with and lost," Debbie said.
With less than a month to go, wedding plans are back on track, but the family is out over $100 in postage, plus time and effort. Police encourage anyone who believes they are a victim of mail theft to report the incident immediately. USPS also advises victims to file a report with the Postal Inspection Service.
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