Chechen Mail Thief Nabbed in San Mateo County

A Chechen national accused of stealing mail out of San Mateo County mailboxes is scheduled for a preliminary hearing today in a Redwood City courtroom.

According to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, 21-year-old Alexander Stefan Dombovic was caught rifling through an SUV parked in a Portola Valley driveway. The young teen who caught him asked him what he was doing. In response, the DA says, Dombovic hit the teen in the shoulder with a baseball bat and fled the scene in his own SUV.

Dombovic nearly ran a sheriff’s department patrol car off the road—he was driving on the wrong side of the road with his headlights turned off. The deputies chased after him. Dombovic lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a ravine. Deputies approached with drawn guns, at which point the suspect yelled, “This has nothing to do with Boston!” The incident happened April 21, just days after the twin bombings of the Boston Marathon by Chechen brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Deputies found 129 Pieces of stolen mail from 18 victims in Dombovic's SUV. When the victims’ mailboxes were checked, investigators found broken locks and smashed mailboxes.

Dombovic, a resident of Palo Alto, is free on $50,000 bail.

The teen struck with the bat suffered bruises.