Men from Country Club Hills, Norridge sentenced in postal theft

Mike Nolan, Daily Southtown (Tinley Park, Ill.)
·2 min read

A Country Club Hills man has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for using U.S. Postal Service arrow keys to steal parcels from the mail in Chicago, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago.

Thaddeus Harper was convicted along with another man, Joseph Solomon, as part of Operation Broken Arrow, a federal investigation into the thefts of mail using stolen arrow keys, which unlock doors and entry systems to nearly every apartment and office building in Chicago and several suburbs, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney.

Harper used a reproduced arrow key to enter multiple residences in Chicago in 2021 and steal mail and parcels from at least 10 victims, according to the release.

In one of his thefts, Harper used the key to gain entrance to an apartment building in Chicago’s River West neighborhood, where he took a piece of mail containing two checks totaling $2,500. Harper also took other packages addressed to the same victim that were valued at more than $6,600, according to the release.

Harper, 44, and Solomon, 39, of Norridge, pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges of unlawful possession of a U.S. Postal Service key, according to the release.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman sentenced Harper Tuesday and Solomon was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall Wednesday to two years in federal prison.

Authorities said Solomon used an authentic arrow key in 2022 to open a panel of mailboxes in an apartment building in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Solomon stuffed pieces of mail into a trash bag and fled the area. He was later arrested in Indiana while driving a stolen U-Haul truck and leading police on a high-speed chase. Solomon crashed into several vehicles in Hammond, Indiana, before being arrested, according to the news release.