isn't tampering with mail a felony?
The most common mail crimes are Mail Theft, Mail Obstruction, and Destruction of Mailboxes. So yes, all three are not only Class D felonies, but are Federal Offenses, meaning the Federal Courts have the overriding jurisdiction to prosecute. However, standalone Class D Felonies are not aggressively pursued for prosecution in Federal Courts, at least not in California’s Southern or Central Districts, which are the Federal Court Jurisdictions for San Diego and Greater Los Angeles.
The dockets of both Districts are so overwhelmed with deportation appeals that, to relieve their backlog, federal charges (where equivalent state charges are applicable) are most often deferred to the state/county level courts. California’s Federal Courts pretty much stick to prosecuting crimes inherent to Federal Criminal Courts: Kidnapping, Explosives, Terrorism, Racketeering, Hijacking an airline, Bankruptcy Fraud, Corruption by a Federal Elected Official, Counterfeiting U.S. Currency, and, what ties up Federal Courts most of all, Immigration Violations.
So, you’ll almost never see a defendant standing before a Federal Judge for charges of Mail Theft/Obstruction/Destruction. And, should said defendant stand before a County Judge after Federal authorities defer prosecution to the county, where the conduct is charged as Petty Theft, bail, if any, is commonly set around $1K before the case is later pled down to probation.
