Stealing mail can be a federal crime under 18 USC 1708. The statute covers specified theft, fraudulent obtaining, destruction, and removal of mail or its contents from postal facilities, authorized receptacles, carriers, and other covered locations. It also reaches buying, receiving, concealing, or unlawfully possessing covered mail knowing it was stolen. [1]
What counts as the protected mail matters
The statute expressly addresses letters, postcards, packages, bags, and articles removed from them. Its location and custody language matters, especially when a package was delivered somewhere unusual or transported by a private carrier. Do not assume every theft from a porch is automatically the same federal postal offense; state theft law or another federal statute may instead apply. [1]
Likewise, accidentally receiving a neighbor’s letter is not equivalent to knowingly stealing or keeping stolen mail. Preserve and return a misdelivered item through appropriate channels rather than using, discarding, or opening it as if it belonged to you.
The ordinary maximum is five years
Section 1708 provides imprisonment for up to five years, a fine, or both. The general federal fine statute supplies relevant fine limits and can authorize an alternative based on gain or loss. A headline maximum is not an automatic sentence; the conviction, facts, criminal history, and sentencing rules affect the outcome. [1][2]
Additional conduct can support additional charges
A stolen check, identification document, or account statement can lead to more conduct after the initial theft. Aggravated identity theft under Section 1028A, for example, concerns knowingly transferring, possessing, or using another person’s means of identification without lawful authority during and in relation to a listed felony. It ordinarily carries a consecutive two-year term when its requirements are met. Mail theft alone does not automatically establish that separate offense. [3]
Any proposed additional charge should be examined element by element. The same is true of allegations involving forged checks, bank transactions, or postal keys; the object taken does not by itself answer every required mental-state and jurisdictional question.
Preserve evidence after a suspected theft
- Save tracking records and delivery notices.
- Keep video or photographs in their original form.
- Record missing checks, cards, or identity documents.
- Report the facts through the postal-inspection and financial-account channels appropriate to the loss.
Compensation is a separate issue from criminal prosecution. See USPS insurance claims and civil claims against USPS before assuming a theft report automatically produces reimbursement.
Primary sources
- 18 USC 1708 – Theft or Receipt of Stolen Mail Matter Generally
- 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
- 18 USC 1028A – Aggravated Identity Theft
Sources checked: October 31, 2026.