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Walnut Creek Man Sentenced For Ripping Off San Francisco Apartment Complex Mailboxes

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A 35-year-old Walnut Creek man who pleaded guilty to repeatedly stealing mail from the residents of San Francisco's Beacon Apartment Complex has been sentenced to more than 2 years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution.

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that Tyler Goforth had been sentenced to 27 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to 27 months in prison. He and a co-conspirator Jesslyn Felix had been charged in a 14-count federal grand jury indictment in January.

According to his plea agreement, Goforth admitted that he and Felix traveled repeatedly to the Beacon Apartment Complex, a large apartment building in San Francisco, to steal mail from the residents.

The defendants visited the Beacon more than a dozen times between August 2017 and February 2018.

Goforth and Felix entered one of the mailrooms at the Beacon, forced open mailboxes, and then stole mail. They then used personal information and documents found in the stolen mail to steal money from Beacon residents, which they spent for personal gain.

Specifically, Goforth and Felix activated credit and debit cards in the victims' names, stole checks and gift cards, accessed bank accounts belonging to Beacon residents, and stole photo identifications which they then used to carry out their scheme to steal money.

In total, Goforth and Felix stole mail from more than 80 residents of the Beacon and stole more than $40,000 from them.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Maxine M. Chesney ordered Goforth to serve a three-year period of supervised release to begin at the completion of the prison term. Goforth has been in custody since May 6, 2019.

Chesney scheduled Felix's sentencing for September 18, 2019. Like Goforth, if Felix complies with the plea agreement, the remaining counts pending against her will be dismissed at sentencing.

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