Opening Another Person's Mail

My question involves criminal law for the state of: oregon

I recently had a family member leave town and abandon their whole apartment. I was asked to go over and clean out the apartment. I was also asked what mail they had and was asked to open a piece of it so they could find out some info. I did and told them, they decided to come home and I gave them their mail but they are claiming that they didn't give me permission to open it. I didn't do anything bad I just gave them the info they needed from the mail.
So my question is am I going to get in trouble for doing that because they are saying they are going to press charges against me for opening it.

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Quoting Juliank

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: oregon

I recently had a family member leave town and abandon their whole apartment. I was asked to go over and clean out the apartment. I was also asked what mail they had and was asked to open a piece of it so they could find out some info. I did and told them, they decided to come home and I gave them their mail but they are claiming that they didn't give me permission to open it. I didn't do anything bad I just gave them the info they needed from the mail.
So my question is am I going to get in trouble for doing that because they are saying they are going to press charges against me for opening it.

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Let them try. I wouldn't worry about this until and unless you're actually arrested. Be aware that your family member cannot press charges - he can make a police report, but only the DA's office will decide if it's a worthy cause even if your family member jumps up and down in the middle of the police station screaming "Get him! Get him!".

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Quoting Dogmatique

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Let them try. I wouldn't worry about this until and unless you're actually arrested. Be aware that your family member cannot press charges - he can make a police report, but only the DA's office will decide if it's a worthy cause even if your family member jumps up and down in the middle of the police station screaming "Get him! Get him!".

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Opening the mail would not be a state crime, so there is nothing the local DA could do about it anyway. It is a federal misdemeanor offense to open the mail of another person without that person’s authorization. 18 U.S.C. § 1703(b). But the feds are not going to want to pursue this since there appears to have been no harm suffered by the family member and there is a potential defense here that the mail was opened with authorization.