Two thieves responsible for thefts from mailboxes in Olds earlier this year are now serving jail time for their crimes.
Two thieves responsible for thefts from mailboxes in Olds earlier this year are now serving jail time for their crimes.
Kevin Brian Madden, 36, and Crystal Cecilia Shewchuk, 32, both of Didsbury, pleaded guilty by video conference to numerous theft and forgery-related charges in a Camrose courtroom on March 20.
Madden and Shewchuk were arrested in Camrose on Feb. 15 when police responded to complaints from a business that a man and a woman were attempting to cash a fraudulent cheque.
Deputy chief Lee Foreman of the Camrose Police Service said the pair were found with documents, equipment and information linking them to mailbox thefts throughout the province in recent weeks, including thefts from six mailboxes on Imperial Drive in Olds on Feb. 9 and at the Olds post office on Feb. 10.
He added police discovered the suspects had stolen an American Express credit card from a mailbox in Olds.
The pair phoned the house the card was going to and convinced a teenager living there to divulge his parents' birthdates in order to activate the card, Foreman said.
Police also found in the pair's possession labelling equipment, rubber stamps for document altering, a laser printer, laptops, bank drafts, identification documents, credit cards, break-in tools and a typewriter.
Besides thefts in Olds, Foreman said, Madden and Shewchuk were linked to mailbox thefts and incidents of fraud in Bonnyville, Camrose, Fort Kent, Fort McMurray, Smoky Lake, Spedden, Lacombe, St. Paul, Dewberry, Glendon and Wataskiwin.
Each suspect originally faced nine charges.
Madden pleaded guilty to uttering a forged document, possession of forgery equipment, possession of break-in tools, possession of stolen property—namely stolen cheques— and knowingly possessing identities of multiple victims.
He was sentenced to two years in prison and two years of probation.
Shewchuk pleaded guilty to uttering a forged document in relation to a forged money order in the amount of $5,309, possession of forgery tools, possession of stolen cheques and unlawful possession of credit card data.
She received a sentence of six months of jail time and 18 months of probation.
The remaining charges were withdrawn due to the guilty pleas.
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