Wednesday, May 15, 2013 | 5:19 p.m.
Two Las Vegas men are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on federal charges accusing them of stealing checks, credit cards and other items from local mailboxes using counterfeit U.S. Postal Service keys.
Derrick F. Hutson, 42, and Marshal R. Stapleton, 27, are scheduled to appear at 3 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas before Magistrate Judge Robert A. McQuaid Jr. Hutson and Stapleton are charged with conspiracy, possession of stolen mail and unauthorized possession of counterfeit U.S. Postal Service keys, said Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. attorney for Nevada.
A criminal complaint dated April 23 lays out the government’s case against the two.
Postal Service employees received several reports of mail theft in Summerlin and northwest Las Vegas. Entire contents of mailboxes had been removed from cluster-type mailboxes, but no damage had occurred to the mailboxes.
Postal inspectors investigated, and Hutson and Stapleton were taken into custody in the early morning hours of April 15 while they were sitting in a vehicle parked near a cluster mailbox in Summerlin.
The inspectors found counterfeit Postal Service keys and burglary tools in the vehicle. Inspectors later recovered Postal Service mailbox locks and parts, counterfeit keys, counterfeit identity documents, credit card manufacturing devices, check software and stolen mail in Hutson and Stapleton’s homes.
The complaint indicates the crimes took place between January and April 23.
If convicted, each man faces up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. They remain in federal custody.
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