North Augusta cops chase suspected mail thief into Georgia
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A man has been arrested after allegedly stealing mail from a post office drop box – part of a national trend that’s also showing up in the CSRA.
Michael Jermain Thompson Jr, 23, was arrested on Friday, according to jail bookings.
According to the North Augusta Department of Public Safety, officers responded Thursday evening to a U.S. Postal Service building in the 1400 block of Georgia Avenue for a theft from an outdoor mail dropbox.
A caller said a car pulled up behind the drop box and a man loaded the mail into the back of his car before driving off.
Police located the car and attempted a traffic stop, but the car fled.
The car continued into Georgia, then struck another car at 13th and Jones streets before Thompson and another man got out and ran, according to authorities.
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Both men were apprehended after a foot chase and turned over to Richmond County deputies, according to authorities.
The arrest of the second man could not be confirmed.
Thompson has been charged with battery and pointing a firearm at another, according to jail bookings.
Postal drop boxes and community mailboxes are treasure troves for criminals – and they’re often stealing the master keys from mail carriers, as happened recently in Augusta.
The thieves are usually after checks that people use to pay their bills. The thieves alter and then deposit the funds using an app.
These check-washing schemes have been going on for quite a while in the Augusta area.
News 12 covered the problem over a year ago, when there was a big outbreak of these cases. Many of the stolen checks were for thousands of dollars, with one real estate business in Augusta losing $16,500 when eight of its checks were stolen out of a postal drop box.
The Postal Service hasn’t gone so far as to tell people not to use the blue drop boxes. But officials do say to make sure you drop off your mail before the last collection of the day – to make sure your outgoing mail doesn’t sit in the box overnight.
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