The suspect, 26-year-old Richard Anthony Ramos Jr. of Stockton, California, was arrested on July 21 with several ballots in his car.

Notably, the Primary elections in Arizona were also held on July 21.

The scheme reportedly involved using a cardboard box into the collection bin to trap outgoing mail, which he would then fish out.

It is unclear whether his target was the mail-in ballots and what he intended to do with them.

Investigators reportedly believe that Ramos had been stealing the mail since May 2026.

Postal Inspectors began surveilling the drop box location on July 14 after receiving multiple reports of boxes being found in late June and early July, according to ABC 15.

Ramos was finally busted on July 21 when inspectors watched him pull a trap containing outgoing mail out of the mailbox.

A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Recorder's office said, "The postal inspectors contacted us regarding the incident and provided us with the unvoted yellow carrier envelopes that were in the mix they seized."

They added, "The Recorder's Office documented receipt from the postal inspector who brought them directly to MCTEC. The envelopes were not voted ballots but were instead outbound ballot packets. The particular voters were promptly reissued outbound ballot packets."