FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Leslie Blanton thought it would be a trip to the mailbox like any other. After all, the mailbox was just steps away from the front entrance of the Fayette County Post Office off Georgia Avenue.
“I just pulled up to the mailbox, put it in, and the next thing we knew, we were being told that our checks had been stolen,” Blanton said.
Blanton said she did not know her checks were stolen until her bank gave her a call about some suspicious activity.
“They tried to purchase a car with the checks, they tried to write a personal check for a thousand dollars, and I was like what’s going on?” Blanton said.
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Blanton was far from the only victim. According to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, there has been a rise in the number of stolen mail reports countywide.
“We were seeing it in the past, but not as bad as we are seeing it today,” says Fayette County Sheriff Barry Babb.
On July 30th, County Deputies arrested Christopher Antonio Smith and John Rodney Turner. The Sheriff’s office said the two men were found with more than 200 pieces of stolen mail, including 151 personal checks worth almost $50,000.
“We’ve caught several groups already, this is just the latest group,” Sheriff Babb said.
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The Sheriff said the county started watching the mailboxes after receiving repeated reports of stolen mail. The county busted a group making fraudulent checks from stolen mail in June. Investigators are still working to see if the cases are connected.
Sheriff Babb said the criminals have a system to take advantage of mailboxes. He said criminals often use “runners” who steal the mail for a small fee.
“They train on how to get into different systems, different boxes, different receptacles,” Sheriff Babb said.
Babb recommended against using any mailboxes outside of a post office to send checks or other vital information.
“They are counting on a lot of checks being mailed,” Babb said.
The county said they are increasing patrols around mailboxes and there are plans to replace the mailbox outside of the Fayette County post office with a higher security model.
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