S.C. authorities charge 2 with stealing thousands of pieces of mail

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- A man and woman have been arrested and charged with stealing mail from the porches of thousands of North and South Carolina residents, sheriff's officials said Saturday.

Jennings Peter Keziah, 34, of Charlotte, N.C., and Tressa Nichole Baucom, 28, of Gastonia, N.C., were found with more than 3,600 pieces of mail and 74 packages that did not belong to them when they were arrested in Lake Wylie, S.C., York County, S.C., Sheriff's officials announced.

The pair face multiple counts of mail fraud, petty larceny, financial card theft and identity theft in connection with the alleged thefts, which authorities estimated affected nearly 2,000 people across the two states dating back to last month.

The arrests were made Tuesday after a tipster reported seeing two people throwing mail out of a car in a Walmart parking lot, officials said.

The South Carolina victims have been identified mostly in the Clover, Lake Wylie, and York areas, while the North Carolina victims are from Gaston, Mecklenburg, Caldwell, Union, and Rowan Counties.

York County detectives said they have hand-returned the mail to the victims in their area, while the U.S. Postal Service is attempting to return the stolen items to those affected in North Carolina.