The 40-year-old Onalaska woman arrested last week for allegedly stealing over 315 pieces of mail from multiple addresses was arrested again Tuesday afternoon after law enforcement found a substantial amount of stolen mail in her residence.
Deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on the suspect’s home just after 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 and discovered “17 to 19 bags full of mail that obviously did not belong to her,” according to Field Operations Bureau Chief Dusty Breen.
Deputies also found a box of license plates with attached registration, indicating they had been mailed out from the state Department of Licensing.
In addition, deputies located “empty packages and boxes as well as envelopes located throughout the house and in the garbage.”
As of Thursday afternoon, detectives and evidence personnel were still sorting through the large amount of recovered mail and trying to make contact with the rightful owner of each piece of mail.
The suspect has been identified by the sheriff’s office and Onalaska community members as Amber K. Rushton, also known as Amber Ingram.
Rushton reportedly did not answer the door for law enforcement but was found hiding in her bedroom during the search.
She was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on second-degree theft, second-degree possession of stolen property and forgery charges, but had not been officially charged in Lewis County Superior Court as of Thursday morning.
The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office asked a judge Wednesday afternoon for Rushton to be held in the jail on a 72-hour investigative hold in order to give the sheriff’s office more time to sort through the evidence gathered at Rushton’s house.
Judge Joely Yeagher approved that hold, but set Rushton’s bail at $10,000 to give her the option of being released on the condition that she return to court as directed for her preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Jan. 13.
Rushton posted that $10,000 bail and was released from the Lewis County Jail at 1:20 a.m. on Thursday, according to jail records.
Thursday afternoon, the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office filed an affidavit of probable cause in Lewis County Superior Court supporting at least two counts of possessing stolen mail and 10 counts of second-degree identity theft.
“The investigation is ongoing and it is expected additional crimes of identity theft will be discovered as well given that some of the mail appears to be from banking institutions, credit card companies and financial institutions,” wrote the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office in the affidavit.
Rushton was initially arrested just after 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 6 after law enforcement officials received a report of a suspicious vehicle, described as a large red SUV with a deactivated yellow light on top, stopping at mailboxes in the 100 block of Mooreland Drive south of Chehalis.
According to the affidavit filed Thursday, a witness had reported “seeing a female in the vehicle checking every mailbox.”
A deputy with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office located the vehicle approximately five minutes after the report came in and, noticing it had expired tags, conducted a traffic stop.
When questioned by the deputy, Rushton reportedly “said she was out delivering fliers and was leaving the area,” according to the affidavit.
The deputy reportedly “observed an exceptional amount of mail stacked on the front floor of the passenger seat” — including two items of mail addressed to the witness who initially reported Rushton’s vehicle — as well as additional mail under the driver’s seat and in the backseat.
Rushton reportedly said the mail was “junk mail I picked up from around,” according to the affidavit.
Rushton was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on Jan. 6 for possession of stolen mail, but was released over the weekend before charges were filed.
On Saturday, Jan. 7, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on Rushton’s vehicle and found “in excess of 300 articles of mail belonging to 124 different owners/addresses,” according to the affidavit.
Over 100 checks and approximately 60 credit cards were recovered from the mail found in Rushton’s vehicle, per the affidavit.
On Wednesday, Rushton’s father contacted the sheriff’s office to report he had gone to Rushton’s house to take care of her animals while she was in jail and had discovered “multiple large bags of mail, prescription medicine bottles, license plates and mail packages marked for people other than his daughter,” per the affidavit.
Rushton’s father reportedly provided law enforcement with photos of the mail in the house.
“Mr. Rushton was concerned that his daughter has been involved in these actions and wanted her to be held accountable for her actions and for her to get help,” wrote the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office in the affidavit.
The information from Rushton’s father prompted the sheriff’s office to request a search warrant for Rushton’s Onalaska residence.
Per the affidavit, the Lewis County prosecutor’s Office intends to ask a judge Friday to establish conditions of release for Rushton “while the investigation continues.”
If Rushton is not present for her mandatory Jan. 13 preliminary hearing, the court will issue a warrant for her arrest.
Chehalis and Onalaska residents who have recently had mail stolen are encouraged to contact the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286 to be added to the victim’s list and help expedite the process of returning the stolen mail.
