The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department has arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with recent mail thefts around Metro Atlanta.

T. Rene Rodriguez dropped his check off at a U.S. Post Office in Sandy Springs. Days later, he got a call from Fayette County deputies who informed him that they found his check inside the home of Hakeem Isaiah Lewis, 20, of Fayetteville.

“They’re taking my check out of a mailbox; I must not be alone,” Rodriguez told WSB’s Jonathan O’Brien.

Deputies told him they recovered his and a $1 million worth of other stolen checks and a blue mailbox master key.

“[He was] a busy guy, I guess,” Rodriguez said.

Chamblee resident Kristen Jenkins had a similar experience. She mailed a birthday check for her niece from another post office on Jan. 24, 2023, a day before Lewis was arrested.

“I thought walking it to the post office would be safe,” Jenkins said.

Records obtained by WSB show Lewis is jailed without bond on 39 charges, including financial identity fraud, theft by possessing stolen mail, theft by receiving stolen property and printing a fictitious check.

“This is a very active criminal investigation, and we are working with other agencies and [the] U.S. Postal Inspectors,” Lt. Allen Stevens with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “At this time, we are not discussing any further details of this open investigation.”

In 2020 a USPS Inspector General’s report found management and controls surrounding universal postal keys to be “ineffective.”

“The number of arrow keys in circulation is unknown, and local units did not adequately report lost, stolen, or broken keys or maintain key inventories,” the report stated.

Residents in several metro cities have reported stolen mail and checks for months. The thieves often use chemicals to “wash” the checks, fill in new amounts and payee names, and cash the checks. Both Jenkins and Rodriguez consider themselves lucky not to have been victims, but this experience will make them think twice.

“I probably will not be mailing checks anymore,” Jenkins said.

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