Golden – Three people have been indicted in an alleged scheme that involved stealing mail from private homes and cashing stolen and counterfeit checks to buy drugs.
Constance Kay Matthews, 42, of Denver; Mathew James Sweeney, 41, of Denver, and Sean Thomas Montgomery, 29, of Lakewood, were indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury for violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act.
Matthews and Sweeney are being held in the Jefferson County Jail on $25,000 bond each. A warrant has been issued for Montgomery.
The indictment, announced today by Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey, states the three worked together to steal mail from mailboxes in front of residences.
Ring members referred to the activity as “mailboxing,” the indictment said, with most of the thefts done in the Evergreen area early in the morning.
Foothills communities are particularly vulnerable to mailbox theft since residences are isolated and close to the metro area.
“This type of activity is one reason why we desperately need an identity theft bill in Colorado,” Storey said.
“While we were able to indict this group under the organized crime statutes, we can’t always prove that criminals who steal personal identifying information and checks are operating in an organized manner,” Storey added. “Without that proof, the penalties aren’t high enough to stop this increasingly serious problem.”
The stolen mail occasionally contained legitimate checks that were cashed by the ring, the indictment said. Usually, the stolen mail contained documents from which bank routing and account numbers were used by the ring members to create counterfeit checks with software programs on computers, the indictment said.
Ring members, who the indictment stated were methamphetamine users, then recruited other people to cash the checks for a flat fee or a percentage. Checks were cashed at Black Hawk casinos, Wal-mart stores, and several businesses and banks.
The ring operated from about April through October last year, and involved more than 100 counterfeit checks. Agents from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Lakewood and Black Hawk police departments worked on the case.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
