Davie mail theft suspects arrested with hundreds of stolen items

Davie detectives arrested Rashad Sattar, 29, and Shon Filsaime, 46, after stopping a black BMW near a Fort Lauderdale gas station and finding nearly 400 pieces of mail inside, including debit and credit cards, U.S. Treasury checks and banking documents. Both men were being held at Broward County Main Jail on burglary of an unoccupied structure, grand theft and fraudulent use of ID charges, and Filsaime also faced a charge of driving with a suspended license.

Investigators tied the pair to mail thefts at the Crexent Business Centers at 12555 Orange Drive in Davie and at the Flamingo Commons Office Park, also on Orange Drive. The men were using two master USPS keys to get into commercial mailbox clusters, a method that can expose entire rows of tenants at once when a master access key is compromised. Fort Lauderdale Police Department and the Broward Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit helped follow the suspects before the stop in Fort Lauderdale.

One tenant at Flamingo Commons no longer leaves checks overnight. Both men had extensive criminal histories, and one was out on bond in an unrelated case.

Florida law treats mail theft and the unauthorized use or possession of a mail depository key or lock as a crime under section 812.136. A first violation is generally a first-degree misdemeanor, while a second or subsequent violation is a third-degree felony.

The Postal Service furnishes the master access lock for cluster box units, while the locks and keys for individual compartments are part of the system that property owners and tenants rely on. Mail theft and related violent crimes have increased. Customers should not leave mail in mailboxes overnight, especially checks or credit cards.

Davie police urged residents to report suspicious people or vehicles around mailboxes. A 2023 Sunrise case found a vehicle packed with more than 800 pieces of mail and recovered a USPS master key.