2 arrested, accused of stealing from 2,000 Charlotte-area mailboxes, sheriff says
A citizen’s tip that someone was throwing mail from a car in a Walmart parking lot led to the arrests of a man and a woman accused of stealing mail from nearly 2,000 Charlotte-area mailboxes, sheriff’s investigators in York County, S.C., said Saturday.
Investigators recovered more than 3,600 pieces of mail and 74 packages and said the mail will be returned to its rightful owners.
Mail dating to November was taken from North Carolina mail boxes in Mecklenburg, Union, Gaston, Rowan and Caldwell counties and South Carolina mailboxes in the Clover, Lake Wylie and York areas of York County, investigators said.
Investigators said they arrested 34-year-old Charlotte resident Jennings Peter Keziah and 28-year-old Gastonia resident Tressa Nichole Baucom on Tuesday in connection with the thefts. Keziah and Baucom were charged with multiple counts of mail fraud, including petit larceny, financial card theft and identity theft, according to a York County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Sheriff’s detectives “hand-returned” mail to York County victims, along with a letter explaining how to file a crime report, according to the release. The sheriff’s office is working with the U.S. Postal Service to return mail to N.C. victims. Those victims must contact their local law enforcement agency if they want to file a report.
The caller who reported the Lake Wylie Walmart incident on Tuesday deserves praise, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said Saturday.
“Without the public doing so, more citizens would have been victimized,” Tolson said.
Keziah and Baucom remained in the York County Detention Center on Saturday as the investigation continues, according to the sheriff’s office.
Andrew Dys of The (Rock Hill) Herald contributed.
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 4:33 PM.