A woman has been charged with stealing checks from mailboxes, altering and cashing them for nearly a half-million dollars, police say.
A car stopped for speeding on Colesville Road in Silver Spring turned out to hold a portable check fraud operation, authorities say.
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WATCH HEREHundreds of business and personal checks belonging to different people, thousands in cash, a printer and blank check printing paper were found in a Chrysler 200 in February 2022.
Court documents also list two other items: a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier's bag and hat. Those things, said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, made their criminal actions go almost unnoticed.
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SIGN UP “They would’ve seen what would’ve looked like an insignia that this was a U.S. postal worker doing their job, working hard for us at 9:30 at night,” he said. “In fact, what they were doing was emptying out a mailbox.”
McCarthy said the car’s contents helped turn around the investigation into a frustrating series of crimes that began in fall 2020.
People in Bethesda and Silver Spring experienced a large amount of mail thefts.
Offenders took what are known as “arrow keys” from USPS letter carriers, through force in some cases. They gained entry into blue mailboxes late at night. Stolen checks were altered, deposited and immediately withdrawn for cash.
Terri Tolliver with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is also involved in the investigation, urges caution with the blue boxes while security continues to be upgraded.
“If you have the opportunity, take it into the post office,” Tolliver said. “If you can’t get to the post office, we have men and women letter carriers in your neighborhood. Hand that important mail directly to the letter carrier, and they’ll make sure that it gets safely to its destination."
As part of the investigation, police contacted the owners of all the checks found, telling them that money they thought they were sending to pay a utility bill or to a grandchild instead ended up in the hands of thieves.
