Man arrested after reports of mail mayhem

A 32-year-old Kalispell man was arrested following two reports of someone tampering with mailboxes in the Kalispell and Helena Flats area.

Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Douglas George James Bruyer shortly before 11 p.m. Monday evening after stopping his vehicle as he left the area of the second report.

The first report came in at approximately 5:30 p.m., when a resident of Browns Road reported watching someone get out of a light blue Subaru hatchback with tinted windows and a loud muffler and look in his neighbor’s mailbox. The caller was unable to tell whether the person took any of the mail.

At 10:43 p.m. a second report came in from a resident of Capistrano Drive who said someone in a vehicle with a loud muffler had been tampering with 25 mailboxes on the street before heading toward the Addison Square area.

“Deputies happened to be fairly close and located the vehicle,” Sheriff Chuck Curry said. “They talked to the driver and his girlfriend, who had been asleep in the backseat at the time.”

During the stop, they found a small number of pieces of mail in and near the car that coincided with the prior reports. None of the mail had any money inside.

Bruyer was arrested on a pending charge of misdemeanor theft and for not having a driver’s license or insurance. His girlfriend was released.