When two men were arrested for allegedly stealing from a mailbox in Broward County, Miami attorney Richard Cooper watched as a typically straightforward case became a partisan media storm.

Junior Alexander Cabral, 28, and Vladimir Cabral Cuevas, 20, were taken into custody outside a post office drop box in Lighthouse Point and charged with stealing ballots and fraud, which are third-degree felonies, and misdemeanor petit theft. The pair are accused of using a device to pull mail out of the box.