Oakwood Police have arrested two people for their role in a mail theft and check altering scheme.
Sgt. Danny Sridej said authorities located and recognized the two suspects at the Oakwood Walmart on Wednesday in a forged check case stemming from July, and later in the day, when executing a search warrant on their rented U-Haul at the McDonald's in Flowery Branch, they found stolen mail, credit cards, a car title, gift cards, a social security card, ID card, driver's license and miscellaneous mail.
Sridej said while they didn't have an amount for the checks stolen in Hall County yet, the amount of the checks stolen from outside Hall County totaled roughly $121,259.15.
Amanda Starr Bryant, 31, and her husband Benjamin Russell Smith, 40, both of Gainesville are accused of washing the stolen checks before using them with counterfeit or stolen IDs at stores to obtain gift cards and merchandise.
The mail was taken from business and residences located in Alto, Auburn, Ball Ground, Braselton, Clarkesville, Commerce, Cumming, Flowery Branch, Gainesville, Hoschton, Jefferson, Lawrenceville, Mount Airy, Pendergrass, Suwanee and Winder; mail was also stolen in Hall, Barrow, Cherokee, Forsyth, Jackson, Gwinnett and Habersham Counties.
Sridej encouraged citizens of Hall and neighboring counties who may have had mail, driver's license or ID, social security and/or checks stolen between May and August of this year to contact Oakwood Police at 770-534-2364 or Inv. Mark Newberry with the Hall County Sheriff's Office at 770-297-4686.
