On Friday, March 13, 2026, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo, New York, announced that Alexandria Duncan, 23, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail theft, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Duncan and her apparent boyfriend Timothee Tidwell had been charged with stealing mail in a criminal complaint complaint filed in September 2025. According to the complaint, law enforcement decided to focus on mailboxes that were regular targets of mass mail theft around October 2024 in response to several armed robberies of arrow keys from postal employees and a rash of mail thefts in the Buffalo-metro area.
The complaint states that at around 1:21 a.m on on October 9, 2024, a surveillance camera captured a black male exit a vehicle and use a key to access the bottom door of a drive-up mailbox in a public parking lot adjacent to 35 Main Street in Hamburg, NY, a suburb of Buffalo. The man removed a large handful of mail then returned to the back passenger door of the vehicle and departed. He had a dark-colored tattoo that stretched from his wrist to his knuckles on the back of his right hand.
Three days later at around 4:50 a.m. on October 12, 2024, surveillance video captured the man with the distinctive tattoo using a key to access at least one mailbox at the same location. This time the video also captured his car’s license plate number.
Police Catch Two People Stealing Mail Outside the Hamburg Post Office
Two days later on October 14, 2024 at around 4:00 a.m., a police officer observed an individual in dark clothing exit a Chrysler sedan and approach a row of mailboxes outside the Hamburg Post Office. The individual remained at the mailboxes as the vehicle drove to a gas station across the street and parked. The officer activated his police lights and approached the vehicle and the individual in dark clothing fled into a wooded area behind the post office. The driver was identified as Duncan, and the car was registered to her father. When authorities searched the vehicle, they found “opened and unopened mail taken from USPS mailboxes, that did not belong to Duncan or Tidwell”.
Alleged Thief Seeks Shelter at Business
The complaint states that a witness contacted the police later that day to report that a man later identified as Tidwell had entered his business earlier that morning “soaking wet and muddy, teeth chattering” and asked for a cup of coffee. The witness told police the man said he was at the post office, and warned him not to put anything in “those boxes” because they are not secure. Tidwell used the business’ phone to make a call, and someone came and picked him up in his father’s car.
According to the complaint, Duncan’s father posted a message on the Hamburg Police Department’s Facebook page “that his daughter was arrested for mail fraud and that her boyfriend Tidwell abandoned her while she was getting arrested”.
Duncan’s Plea Agreement
In her plea agreement, Duncan admitted she was the driver during the three thefts in Hamburg in October 2024, and she knew Tidwell was using a postal arrow key to steal mail including stamped envelopes containing checks. The plea agreement stated that opened mail recovered from Duncan’s car included checks from individuals and businesses that totaled $369,104.92. As part of her guilty plea, Duncan agreed to forfeit $4,909. in cash that was seized after she was questioned at the gas station.
Based on the facts of the case and Duncan’s apparent lack of criminal history, the government calculated her sentencing range to be 18 to 24 months in prison, a fine of $7,500 to $75,000, and 1 to 3 years of supervised release.
Tidwell has not been tried or convicted so all charges leveled against him should be considered allegations.