Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally
Official text prohibited actmental stateif conditionpenaltylegal term
Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains, or so to obtain, from or out of any mail, post office, or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or any mail route or other authorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter or mail carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or abstracts or removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, or secretes, , or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein; or
Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein which has been left for collection upon or adjacent to a collection box or other authorized depository of mail matter; or
Whoever buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully has in his possession, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein, which has been so stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the same to have been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted—
Shall be or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
History: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 779 (PDF, 39 MB); May 24, 1949, ch. 139, §39, 63 Stat. 95 (PDF, 5.2 MB); July 1, 1952, ch. 535, 66 Stat. 314; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(I), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147 (PDF, 52 MB).)
Simplified explanation
It is a federal crime to steal mail, or get it by fraud, from a post office, mailbox, mail carrier, or mail left out for pickup, or to remove, hide, or destroy its contents. Buying or keeping mail known to be stolen is also a crime.