Feds: Man In Dodge Journey Stealing Checks From Bloomfield Mailboxes
DETROIT (WWJ) - Authorities are searching for a Detroit man who is apparently stealing mail in Oakland County.
A federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court says Djuan Barnes stole checks from mailboxes in Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield, including a $8,000 check he deposited and a $200,000 check reported missing by another resident.
Investigators believe Barnes began stealing mail as far back as October 2017. Police received a complaint that month from a Bloomfield Township resident, who said a book of checks from Chase Bank never arrived at his home. One of the checks, written for $8,000, was successfully deposited via mobile deposit on Oct. 17. Bank of America provided police with the IP address attached to the deposit, which came back to the Knights Inn motel in Romulus. An investigation revealed that Barnes was checked into that hotel between Oct. 17 and Oct. 21.
Police received another complaint on Jan. 16 from a Bloomfield Township man who said he put two $500 Western Union money orders in the mail on Oct. 7 to pay his Verizon bill. He assumed the mail was picked up, until he noticed an outstanding balance at Verizon. He contacted Western Union, who advised that both money orders were cashed at a market in Romulus on Oct. 22. Verizon had been crossed off the payee section and the name Djuan Barnes was written instead. The individual was caught on surveillance video, which was provided to police.
Click here to read the criminal complaint (.pdf format)
Another complaint was filed on Jan. 25 from a Bloomfield Hills resident who said he was expecting to receive a Bank of America credit card in the mail on Jan. 18, but it never came. The bank contacted him on Jan. 25 and said someone had used the card to purchase a Delta Airlines ticket for a flight departing Jan. 28. The name on that ticket was Djuan Barnes, according to the airlines.
Also on Jan. 25, two Bloomfield Township residents reported mail thefts in their neighborhood. One man said he witnessed a black male driving a gray Dodge crossover with a New York license plate stopped in front of his neighbor's mailbox. His neighbor then told police she had problems with mail theft since Nov. 2017, including a missing $200,000 check from Comerica Bank. The woman also told police she witnessed the same Dodge vehicle stopped in front of her mailbox on a previous occasion.
Armed with the information about the suspect's vehicle, a detective conducted surveillance on Club Drive in Bloomfield Township and spotted a gray Dodge Journey. The detective also recognized the driver from the surveillance footage provided by the market, according to court documents, and identified the man as Barnes.
The next day, officers observed the same vehicle in a subdivision near Wabeek and Lone Pine Drive. Officers ran the license plate and discovered the vehicle was reported stolen on Sept. 23 2017. In the report, the victim said she rented the vehicle from Enterprise and loaned it to Barnes, her relative, but he never returned the car.
From Feb. 9 through Feb. 12, the complaint says surveillance officers observed Barnes driving the Dodge Journey and going through mailboxes at multiple locations.
On Feb. 13, officers learned that Barnes had been staying at the Woodspring Suites in Rochester Hills but disappeared, leaving behind many items including a large number of mail and checks, credit cards, employment W-2s and bank account statements in other people's names. His current whereabouts remain unknown.
Police are still searching for Barnes, whose last known address is on Horton Street in Detroit. He's wanted for mail theft, aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
