Two people are in custody in relation to the theft of more than 300 pieces of mail with checks totaling more than $555,000.
Update: Bail was set at $1 million each on Wednesday for a couple in custody accused of stealing $550,000 in mail.
Keyli Escalante-Enamorado, 21, and Rudy Socop-Domingo, 23, appeared in East Fork Justice Court with an interpreter after their Monday night arrest.
Of the 330 victims across four states identified, so far, 21 of them live in Douglas County, according to Douglas County Deputy District Attorney Bethany Towne who argued for a higher bail.
She said that the couple told authorities they were traveling to Los Angeles after visiting Reno, indiating they don't have a connection to the region and could be a flight risk.
Towne asked for another day to complete charging the couple due to the complexity of the case.
Attorney Max Stovall, who represented the couple for purposes of the bail hearing, asked that bail be set at $25,000 for each. He said they have a 3-month-old child at home.
The couple is in custody after they were allegedly caught with mail and gear used to fish mail from boxes are facing charges related to the possession of more than 300 pieces of mail with checks totaling more than $555,000.
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A couple is in custody after they were allegedly caught with mail and gear used to fish mail from boxes are facing charges related to the possession of more than 300 pieces of mail with checks totaling more than $555,000.
Keyli Escalante-Enamorado, 21, and Rudy Socop-Domingo, 23, were stopped for speeding just before midnight Monday in a 2008 Toyota Camry.
A consent search of the Toyota revealed 261 personal and business checks totaling over $555,000.
A majority of the stolen checks were written to the IRS. Also, located in the Toyota were two homemade mail fishing devices made of vinyl strips, duct tape, and weights. The devices used the sticky portion of “Rat Traps” to remove mail from the postal containers.
Both Escalante-Enamorado and Socop-Domingo are apparently in the U.S. illegally and were deported from the United States in 2019, according to a background check.
Escalante-Enamorado and Socop-Domingo were both booked into the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Minden Jail for a multitude of felony charges including fraud, swindling, confidence game, identify theft, possession of stolen property, possession of credit card without consent, possession burglary tools, theft over $5,000, tampering with the mail and uttering a forged instrument. Escalante-Enamorado’s bail is $435,974 and Socop-Domingo’s bail is $350,039.
The Douglas county Sheriff’s Office has reached out to ICE to request an immigration hold placed on both suspects.
Mail and checks were located from Douglas County, Carson City, Lyon County, Washoe County, Storey County and numerous locations in California.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office will contact the above agencies and individual victims in Douglas County as soon as possible.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has reached out to the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office and Homeland Security to assist with this investigation.
