A Clarkesville man is behind bars and has warrants pending from Lumpkin County in connection to a mail theft investigation that spanned five counties, authorities say.
The Gainesville Times reports that Kristopher Jordan Beasley, age 26, was arrested after a suspicious person call Aug. 23 near the Hofbrau Hotel in Helen, according to Helen Police.
Helen Police said roughly three 30-gallon trash bags of mail were seized from Beasley’s car after the suspicious call investigation.
Sheriff’s office spokesman Alan Roach said Beasley is being held in the White County Detention Center and that warrants have been obtained for “Lumpkin County on the theft charges of the mail.”
After responding to the suspicious person call last month, officers could see several shipping boxes and “numerous pieces of mail” inside the suspect’s Honda, according to an incident report.
The Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office had recently issued a be-on-the-lookout post regarding mail theft, and the White County Sheriff’s Office had responded to two mail theft calls that day, according to the report.
None of the mail came from the city of Helen, the report shows.
The Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office said in late August there were thousands of pieces of mail recovered from Hall, Union, White, Habersham, and Lumpkin counties.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office said there were 33 victims in Hall County in this mail theft investigation and 70-80 pieces of mail involved.
While the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has not released specific details, spokesperson Lt. Matthew Wurtz confirms, “We are working several stolen mail cases at this time.”
In addition to the trash bags of mail, there were also assorted packages from Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service, according to Helen Police.
Roach said the suspect allegedly drove up to mailboxes and took the mail inside.
“As far as where the mail was stolen from, the mail was taken from each of the individual mailboxes at each location/residence and not from any centralized location,” Roach wrote in an email.
Roach said there is no indication that anyone except Beasley was involved.
