Officers this week recovered more than 500 pieces of stolen mail from Folsom and El Dorado Hills after they spotted two people acting suspiciously at a shopping center, police said.

About 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, officers with the Folsom Police Department’s problem oriented policing unit noticed a woman acting suspiciously as she entered the Nordstrom Rack clothing store at the Palladio shopping center.

Police said one of the officers headed toward the parking lot where police saw her coming from and spotted a man in a nearby vehicle begin to act suspiciously, police officials announced Thursday in a Facebook post. The officer approached the man while asking other officers to speak with the woman in the store.

When the officer spoke to the man in the vehicle, later identified as a 42-year-old Stockton man, he gave the officer a false name and said he was from the Stockton area, according to the Police Department.

Police said the officer spotted a package in the vehicle that did not appear to belong to him, because it looked like it was postmarked and had a Folsom delivery address. The officer suspected the package might be stolen and detained the Stockton man.

Nordstrom Rack employees told the officers that the suspicious woman was seen stealing clothing from the store, police said. The officers found and detained the suspect, later identified as a 28-year-old Stockton woman.

The woman was on parole, so the officers searched the vehicle and found a large black garbage bag in the trunk that contained more than 500 pieces of mail from addresses in the Folsom and El Dorado Hills areas, according to the Police Department.

Police investigators have referred the suspected mail theft to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for further investigation.

The pair from Stockton were arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property, police said. The man faces an additional charge of giving a false name to police.

“Folsom Police Department reminds residents that the best defense against mail theft is to pick up your mail daily,” police officials wrote in the Facebook post. “If you plan to leave town for several days, consider stopping your mail delivery with the United States Postal Service or asking a trusted neighbor or friend to collect your mail for you.”

Officers asked residents who see suspicious activity near a mail box to call the Police Department at 916-355-7231.