Two arrested for mail theft ring that hit upscale neighborhoods in Charlotte, near lake
A Charlotte-area couple stole thousands of pieces of mail during a 2021 crime spree that targeted upscale neighborhoods and crossed the state line, a new federal indictment claims.
Tressa Nichole Baucom, 30, of Charlotte and Jennings Peter Keziah, 35, of Stanley were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Charlotte on charges of mail theft conspiracy, wire fraud and three counts of possession of stolen mail.
Their arrests mark the latest in a series of mail-theft conspiracies victimizing Charlotte-area homeowners, banks and other businesses.
According to the indictment, the pair pilfered residential mailboxes in the Piper Glen community in south Charlotte as well as along Dryden Lane near Quail Hollow.
They also regularly hit homes on Greenbank Court, off Mount Holly/Huntersville Road, and targeted residences on Mount Isle Harbor Drive near Mountain Island Lake.
In some cases, according to the indictment, Baucom and Keziah used a stolen U.S. Postal Service key to open mail-collection boxes.
The thefts went on for only three months. But by the time the pair was arrested in York County in early December 2021, they had accumulated more than 3,700 pieces of stolen mail, including 50 credit cards, five driver’s licenses, a passport and individual checks for $142,249, $107,943 and $9,000, according to the indictment.
Baucom and Keziah, also known as Christian Thomas Carpenter, used the stolen credit and gift cards to buy gas and make purchases at Walmart, Best Buy and Academy Sports and Outdoors.
Their indictments reveal yet another mail-theft conspiracy in the Charlotte region, reflecting a national trend that saw postal thefts increase by 600% between 2017 and 2020, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
“This is the latest and greatest crime to be involved with. There’s no gun, you don’t have to go the bank,” Charlotte business owner Gregory Finnican, a regular mail-theft victim, told the Observer in February.
Consider:
▪ In September, three Charlotte men were sent to prison for using a mail key stolen during the armed robbery of a postal worker to bilk $3 million from banks and other institutions.
▪ In January 2020, Erik Magana of Charlotte was sentenced to 42 months in prison in connection with his one-man, mail-theft ring that stole at least $550,000 from at least 1,300 victims across the Charlotte region. His take included credit cards, stolen checks, as well as tickets to the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” Police also found a stolen IRS refund check for $233,000 in Magana’s car.
▪ In August, Charles Morgan Harrell was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing mail in three states, including repeated hits on upscale south Charlotte communities. “She found a gold mine in our neighborhood,” one residential victim previously told the Observer. “She looks like a kindly grandma. She’s a jerk.”
▪ In December, Soheil Akhavan Rezaie, 37, was sentenced to five years in prison for reaping $150,000 from stolen credit cards, forged checks and other bank fraud — a spree that started while Rezaie was on supervised release from an earlier mail-theft conviction.
Finnican, the Charlotte business owner, said the problem has worsened in recent years.
“It’s like seeing one cockroach,” he said. “You just know there’s more out there.”
Staff writer Julia Coin contributed.
