Albany police expect more arrests as mail theft crimes have soared

Alan Mauldin, The Albany Herald, Ga.
·2 min read

ALBANY — The arrest last week of two mail theft suspects is not thought to be related to other recent arrests, but the crime is one that law enforcement has been seeing a lot of lately.

“This has become a hot commodity, not just in Albany but throughout the Southeast,” Albany Police Chief Michael Persley said during a Monday news conference. “I am anticipating there will be more arrests.”

The latest arrests came on May 1, when police took Trammell Harris and Marqavia Oliver into custody and conducted a search with federal postal inspectors during which more than 600 checks that had been stolen from mail collection boxes were recovered. Officers also seized debit cards and other documents.

Oliver, 22, has been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and theft by possession of stolen mail, and Harris has been charged with forgery and theft by possession of stolen mail. Each of the recovered checks will constitute a separate charge for possession of stolen mail, according to police.

The police department and Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office have been working with U.S. Postal Service inspectors to investigate mail theft cases. The investigations are related to mail thefts that occurred in 2023 and 2024.

Police were able to link cars to the thefts in which Oliver and Harris have been charged, police said.

This year the APD and sheriff’s office each made two arrests in what are believed to be unrelated mail theft cases.

Stolen checks have been forged and cashed in the various schemes, investigators with the two agencies said.

In many instances, the checks are deposited into accounts of individuals who either wittingly or unwittingly become involved. In some instances, the forgers pay the owners of those bank accounts for their use.

On Monday, Persley said that individuals should be wary about allowing someone to use their banking information.

“If someone says deposit this check and you’ll get a certain amount of money, I wouldn’t do that because of (the possibility) that the check was stolen or that it was a potentially stolen check,” he said. “At some point, a decision is going to be made: You’ll either be a co-defendant or you’re going to be a cooperating witness. Some people think this is a victimless crime, but it’s not.”

The chief also recommended that individuals consider some other means of paying bills other than using mailed checks. They should also keep a close check on bank accounts to ensure that they reached the intended recipient and have not been stolen and forged.