YORK COUNTY, S.C. — Detectives in York County arrested two people accused of multiple counts of mail fraud.
Jennings Peter Keziah, 34, of Charlotte, and Tressa Nichole Baucom, 28, of Gastonia, were arrested on Dec. 7 after they were found throwing mail out of a car in a Walmart parking lot. Police say they were spotted by someone who called police.
“It was thanks to a watchful eye of a citizen who noticed some people acting suspiciously in a Wal-Mart parking lot there in Lake Wylie, thumbing through some mail and then actually littering and throwing the mail outside of their car," said York County Sheriff's spokesperson Trent Faris.
When police arrived, Faris says they immediately noticed something suspicious.
"The names on the mail didn’t match their names. To have 74 packages and more than 3,600 pieces of mail in your car is highly unusual," said Faris, "and that wasn’t the only thing they had in their car – they also had various narcotics, so [authorities] are also looking at charges on that, too.”
Keziah and Baucom are charged with petit larceny, financial card theft, and identity theft, according to police.
Officers said Keziah and Baucom had more than 3,600 pieces of mail and 74 packages that did not belong to them. Police said the mail found dates back to November 2021.
York County detectives are working with the United States Postal Service to return the missing mail.
“The beauty of it is that all the victims we have is we have their names throughout North Carolina and South Carolina," said Faris, "So we know who the victims are and we’re trying to reach out to those folks.”
Close to 2000 people across North and South Carolina were identified as victims of mail fraud.
The investigation is ongoing.
If North Carolina victims would like to file a report they need to contact their local law enforcement agency.
Contact Indira Eskieva at ieskieva@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.