The leader of a burglary ring that targeted post offices, including one in Torrance, and stole boxes full of mail was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

Jose Manual Guerra, 45, of Los Angeles was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt in Los Angeles.

Guerra, who used the nickname “Tricky,” pleaded guilty in September to postal burglary. He admitted using a crowbar to forcibly break into the north Torrance Post Office on Crenshaw Boulevard on Oct. 24, 2013, to steal mail, prosecutors said.

Guerra also admitted breaking into at least two other post offices in 2013, but might have been involved in five other burglaries, prosecutors said.

He learned he was wanted by law enforcement in connection with the crimes and fled from California. He was arrested in December 2013 in New Mexico, where investigators found checks, credit cards, various forms of identification issued in other people’s names, credit card statements, bank statements and other items sent through the mail. Some of the recovered checks were “washed” and changed, prosecutors said.

— Larry Altman