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Chicago man sentenced to prison for using fake postal keys in apartment break-ins
A Chicago man has been sentenced to nine years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for his role in a series of burglaries and identity thefts spanning several years.
CHICAGO - A Chicago man has been sentenced to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for his role in a series of burglaries and identity thefts spanning several years.
Jonathan Minter, 38, pleaded guilty on Monday to burglary charges.
The case stems from a series of incidents between September 2023 and February 2024, during which Minter used counterfeit postal keys to illegally access residential mailboxes in condominiums and apartments across Chicago.
Investigators linked Minter to approximately 20 burglaries and identity thefts.
Joint Investigation Leads to Arrests
Minter was first arrested on Sept. 28, 2023, following a joint investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Chicago Police Department. Authorities also arrested Andrew Kirkpatrick, 31, of Champaign, Illinois, identifying both men as suspects in numerous apartment burglaries, mail thefts and subsequent identity thefts in 2022 and 2023.
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Minter faced five felony burglary charges in Chicago after this arrest.
A second arrest followed on Oct. 23, 2023, after Minter was accused of unlawfully entering at least seven residences and stealing items. These incidents occurred at apartment complexes in several neighborhoods, including Peterson Park, Andersonville, Old Norwood Park, Edgewater, Lake View and the South Loop.
Specific burglary dates and locations included:
- April 3: 5900 block of North Lincoln Avenue (Peterson Park)
- April 9: 5800 block of North Clark Street (Andersonville)
- April 15-16: 110 block of West Ardmore Avenue (Old Norwood Park)
- April 16: 5600 block of North Broadway (Edgewater)
- April 17: 5700 block of North Winthrop Avenue (Edgewater)
- Sept. 7: 3800 block of North Fremont Street (Lake View)
- Sept. 28: 1800 block of South Michigan Avenue (South Loop)
In this instance, Minter faced seven additional felony burglary charges.
Jonathan Minter | Chicago police
Final Arrest and Sentencing
Minter’s third arrest occurred on Feb. 13, 2024, at the Homewood Suites Hotel in River North, during another joint investigation involving the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Chicago Police Department. He was charged with three felony counts of burglary and four felony counts of identity theft.
At the time of his February arrest, Minter had absconded from pretrial release on earlier charges and faced more than a dozen warrants for failure to appear in court.
"We're happy to see justice delivered on the victims' behalf. Mr. Minter recently was sentenced to just under 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for burglaries and identity theft in the Chicagoland area," said Spencer Block, Postal Inspector, Public Information Office.
Minter will get credit for some time served.
RELATED: Uptown man charged with burglary, identity theft after allegedly stealing mail
Protecting Postal Service Employees
The U.S. Postal Service and the Postal Inspection Service said combating mail theft and violent crimes against postal employees is a top priority. In response to a rise in these crimes, they launched Project Safe Delivery in May 2023.
The initiative takes a comprehensive approach to protect postal employees and the mail system, focusing on preventing incidents through education and awareness while enforcing laws that safeguard the nation’s mailstream.
"Since May of 2023, when project Safe Deliver started, we've had as an agency nationwide, over 2,000 mail theft and robbery arrests, which is a lot over a year and a half. I can tell you that I hear in the Chicago division, which geographically is the states of Illinois and Wisconsin, and then into a portion of Missouri, in fiscal year 2023, I believe we had over 130 letter carrier robberies. In fiscal year '24, we had about a 75% reduction in that," said Block.
To learn more about protecting your mail and packages, visit https://www.uspis.gov/.