Cheltenham Township police warn of stolen mail, check fraud
The suspect allegedly pocketed thousands of dollars from dozens of mostly elderly victims across Cheltenham Township.
CHELTENHAM TWP., Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Montgomery County man is accused of stealing right out of people's mailboxes.
Investigators say Keyon Clark, 22, stole checks, altered the payee and amounts, and then cashed the checks for himself.
He allegedly pocketed thousands of dollars from dozens of mostly elderly victims across Cheltenham Township.
"Like get a job, like seriously," said Sherri Brown of Mount Airy. "Especially elderly people, they work hard for what they have and they're at the time in their lives where they shouldn't have to worry about stuff like that."
On Thursday just after 3 am, police say they observed Clark standing at the Elkins Park drive-up post office box.
When officers approached police say Clark ran, dropping pieces of mail along the way. A police K-9 team caught him in nearby woods.
Officers served a search warrant for his car and his home in Philadelphia.
"They recovered dozens more pieces of stolen mail, hundreds of checks, credit cards, debit cards things like that," said Lieutenant Andrew Snyder of Cheltenham Township Police Department.
Check fraud has been a continuous problem throughout the area. Back in May, 6abc spoke with a victim in Lower Moreland. A suspect tried cashing his stolen check for $13,000.
"It made me angry of course because times like this, people are struggling and someone is trying to steal from you?" said Philip Nanos of Lower Moreland Township.
And not only that, but there are other ramifications for checks not getting to intended recipients.
"We had a victim whose car payment never made it," said Snyder. "So they received a notice that their car was going to be repossessed because they didn't make their payment on time. We had someone's mortgage payment not make it, so their house is possibly being foreclosed on. There was a gentleman whose child support payment never made it."
So police say if you can, use online banking or drop off your mail inside the post office.
"I feel really sad," said Myla Skeiker of West Mount Airy. "I think that there are a lot of people in the community who they trust that they put things in the postal box and that it's going to get where it belongs."
Police said it is possible this suspect could face federal charges given this involves the USPS.
Police believe there could be more victims so if it happened to you too, please reach out to Cheltenham Detectives.
